


like I have the world

by acastle



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Bodyguard Kim Minseok | Xiumin, Light Angst, M/M, Modern Royalty, Prince Byun Baekhyun, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 16:41:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 44,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15441312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acastle/pseuds/acastle
Summary: Junmyeon comes in then, flanked by Kim Minseok, and Baekhyun doesn’t think much of it, it’s his mother’s personal bodyguard, but then she’s telling him, “We’ve decided that Minseok will now be assigned to you as your new security-”“What?!” he squawks, mouth still full of half chewed noodles and broth, and she promptly lift his jaw up, closing his mouth.(His Royal Highness Byun Baekhyun needs new security, and Kim Minseok is much kinder than he looks.)





	like I have the world

**Author's Note:**

> suspend your disbelief. this is not accurate in terms of terminology (or really in anything tbh), and I'm aware that sk is not governed by a monarchy. just have fun pls.
> 
> don't send to anyone mentioned

“How can I say this lightly, um. Yunho has handed in a letter of resignation, Your Highness.”

“What?” she looks up from where she’s reading over some documents, and Junmyeon gulps from where he’s standing in front of her desk, holding his leather file case with a sudden tightness. 

“He came to me this morning, and I’ve already reviewed it, Your Highness, but for your perusal,” he says in a small voice, handing over the dossier, and the Crown Princess is not a cruel person by any means, not cold, not merciless. She is very warm, in fact, kind and endlessly patient. But this  _ is  _ still the third bodyguard to quit this year, and it’s only July. 

“Oh, Baekhyun, what am I to do with you?” she sighs as she reads through the letter, tapping her desk with her fingers as she thinks. “I should have known to have pushed him to take up his graduate classes sooner. This gap year is making him restless. What is he doing?”

“Sneaking out, slipping out from under his watch,” he says, lip twitching when she looks at him. “And, not that that this is something to judge him for, but when he brings people home for the night, it’s problematic for security measures when there’s a stranger in the Palace come the next morning. Also some practical jokes, relatively harmless things, but. Your Highness, may I speak honestly?”

“Of course, Junmyeon,” she says, and he swallows.

“He’s very kind. Affectionate and he works hard, and we’re very fond of him. Even Yunho, and his previous security, and perhaps  _ that  _ is the problem? They get comfortable and Baekhyun thinks it’s something akin to permission, to be troublesome. He’s just a bit of a menace is all? And, I say this lovingly, he’s a brat. Forgive me.”

“No, I know where you’re coming from,” she says, and she thinks. “Chanyeol isn’t helping either, is he?”

“The cousins are particularly beloved. They’re also a constant source of exasperation and exhaustion.”

“Well, we can’t very well separate them,” she says. “Have you reviewed and come up with some options?”

“Yes, well, we can outsource through the agency,” he says, but she makes a face. “Yes, I thought you might find it cumbersome to do more security background checks and interviews for someone who can deal with Baekhyun’s specific kind of liveliness. I’ve consulted Kyungsoo, and. Well, he suggested that we might source from within the security detail already working in the Palace. One of yours or His Royal Highness’s, as they’re already more equipped to deal with more valuable individuals.”

“Would you happen to have anyone in mind?”

He does, and he and Kyungsoo have only really ever considered one person, but, considering his position in the security team, he hesitates when he says, “Kim Minseok, Your Highness.”

Her eyes widen. “My personal Head of Security?”

“Yes,” he says, blinking hard. “He’s the best in the Palace, quiet and efficient and he’s a very good worker. He’s kind but still rather impersonal, and Kyungsoo and I feel it would be the best fit, and he’s smart. He’s not as easy to fall into Baekhyun’s tricks, we feel.”

“He is very sharp,” she says, considering. “Would be a shame to lose him, but I see where he might be a good fit for Baekhyun. But, what of  _ my  _ personal security?”   
“I already have many candidates who suit your specific needs, Your Highness,” he says, prepared and sweating a little out of nervousness. “I’ll have their data ready for you in a few hours time to review.”

“Well, it would be best to consult this further, but I agree this is a viable solution,” she says, but she sighs all the same. “It must be cabin fever. It  _ has  _ to be cabin fever.”

“Maybe so, Your Highness,” he says. 

“Is it all those computer games he plays?”

“He just prefers being inside, is all that it is,” Junmyeon says, and she thinks.

“Well. I’ll review this further and consider our options. But, for now, please have Minseok on standby. Thank you for your hard work, Junmyeon.”

“Yes, thank you, Your Highness,” he bows deeply, and makes a great exhale as he leaves the office.

Minseok won’t be very happy with him.

.

“Yunho quit?!” 

“Don’t look so shocked, what did you expect to happen when you stuffed yuzu jelly in all his socks?” Kyungsoo says, looking genuinely concerned that Baekhyun wouldn’t consider this something worth complaining about. A waste of food and clothing, and it’s generally just in bad taste. “Personally, I’m shocked that he didn’t quit when you replaced the berry preserves with chili concentrate, or when you filled his shampoo bottles with cooking oil.”

“That was both Chanyeol.”

“Incorrect, I had no hand in the oil shampoo incident. I admit proudly to masterminding the chili jam, though,” Chanyeol says from where he’s perched on the sofa. Kyungsoo glares at him, and then back at Baekhyun.

“Your Highness, we’ve been over this. We can’t keep doing this, this is the third this year,” he says, and Baekhyun flops down on the bed, chin on his arms and looking up at him with a pout. Kyungsoo continues to glare. “It is expensive and very tiresome to keep looking for new security. It is very difficult, you understand that, right?”

“I know,” he says, and he sits up, frowning. Kyungsoo straightens, sees that Baekhyun means it, sincerely looks apologetic. “I was just trying to have some fun.”

“I understand that, Your Highness, but it can’t be at his expense, or anyone else’s,” he says, working hard to make himself understood. “You can’t keep getting yourself into trouble like this. I know you mean no harm, but you’re a prince. There is protocol, and you’re expected to adhere to higher standards of behavior. This goes for you too, Giraffe.”

“I’m a prince too, you know,” Chanyeol frowns at him. “Why don’t you call me ‘Your Highness?’”

“Because I work for Baekhyun, and because you’re twice as insufferable. Go bother Donghae, he's the one who actually works for you, why do  _ I  _ have to suffer?” Kyungsoo bites out. Chanyeol narrows his eyes at him, and he’s promptly ignored. “Your Highness, please try to make the next one last? We’re running out of options here. Please try. At least until your gap year is up.”

Baekhyun pouts, but he looks down at his lap, sighing. “Okay. I’ll do my best.”

“You mean that?” he says, and Baekhyun looks up, glaring, but determined.

_ “Yes.  _ I won’t make another bodyguard quit.”

“I don’t think you can.”

“You’ll see, Kyungsoo,” he huffs, and Kyungsoo smiles to himself, because if anything, Baekhyun is freakishly competitive and hates losing, so there’s a sense of pride on the line now, in the very least. 

“Well, you’re not to leave until you have new security detail. Her Royal Highness is discussing the options and considering what the next course of action should be,” he says, tapping at his phone and replying to Junmyeon’s messages. “You should be called within the next few days so she can discuss your new security with you.”

“So I’m on lockdown?”

“Until further notice,” he says. “Think of it as a nice day in.”

“I’m  _ always  _ in.”

“Dinner will be in the garden alcove this evening, your brother His Royal Highness and his family are visiting,” Kyungsoo says, and Baekhyun whines at him as he leaves, closing the door behind himself, ignoring Chanyeol’s loud laughter.

.

“Morning, mom.”

“Yes, Baekhyun, please sit,” she says, sipping her tea gracefully as she goes through her agenda for the day, Junmyeon seated next to her, across him, as he patiently briefs her for her schedule. He’s served fruits and noodle soup and juice, and she looks up at him as he starts eating. “Where did you get the idea to put jelly in your employee’s clothing?”

“He laughed when he realized,” he mumbles, and Junmyeon coughs.

“Yes, he must have found it funny enough to decide not to work for you anymore,” she sighs, drizzling honey over her buttered toast. “We’ve been over this already, so I won’t repeat my lecture. But if the next assignment quits too, the consequence won’t just be another slap on the wrist, understood?”

“Yes,” he says, meaning it. He doesn’t particularly like it all the same, but he will do his best for her. 

“Okay,” she says, nodding to Junmyeon, who nods in turn and stands, bowing deeply before leaving the room. “Small jokes and such are fine. But nothing on the expense of the workers. And please no sneaking out, darling. They’re there to protect you. The decisions they make are for your safety, you know that, right?”

“I’m trying, I promise. But, it’s just so  _ frustrating,  _ being here all the time, being watched like a hawk,” he says, pouting, and she shakes her head, patting his cheek. 

“If you want to go out, why don’t you try  _ asking  _ them?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” he frowns, and she gives him a reprimanding look. 

Junmyeon comes in then, flanked by Kim Minseok, and Baekhyun doesn’t think much of it, it’s his mother’s personal bodyguard, but then she’s telling him, “We’ve decided that Minseok will now be assigned to you as your new security-”

“What?!” he squawks, mouth still full of half chewed noodles and broth, and she promptly lift his jaw up, closing his mouth.

“We considered several options and we’ve come to the conclusion that Minseok be assigned to you from now on,” she continues, nodding at him, and he nods deeply in turn not saying anything, looking austere and achingly handsome in his black suit and hair in a soft swoop. 

Baekhyun forgets the multiple thoughts he’s ever had of Minseok being completely his type since he’d met him a few years ago when he had begun working for his mother, and is immediately intimidated, short of afraid. Minseok is the best in their entire security team, seemingly strict and kind of terrifying. He’d watched him tackle down a foreigner twice his size who had a threatening glint in his eye as he made a beeline for his mother. Minseok had gotten up without a scratch, while the foreigner had to be carried out in a stretcher.

He’s direct, works well and always gets the job done. Baekhyun knows he’s  _ doomed.  _

“Kyungsoo and Junmyeon have discussed this, and they think that Minseok would be the best fit for your. Energy,” she says, pausing at the last word and thinking it through. 

Baekhyun shoots a glare at Junmyeon. He just stares back, eyes wide and mouth in a frown, defiant. He’s going to have to have words with Kyungsoo when he sees him. 

“Don’t worry, Your Highness,” Minseok says, and Baekhyun is already bemoaning his fate internally. “I won’t bother you unless you really need to be bothered. You won’t even notice me.”

“Minseok is very efficient,” she says proudly. 

“That’s why it’s scary,” he mutters. The table is large, but not so large that he can’t feel Junmyeon kick him under it. 

“I’m already updated and familiarized with your wing of the Palace,” Minseok says, “And I’m more or less aware of your daily routine. I’ll be out of your way. I’ll just be keeping you safe from a distance.”

“No more fun forever,” he says, and all Minseok does is look at him, face blank otherwise aside from an eyebrow making a slight curve upwards. 

“I’m optimistic that this will be a good arrangement for everyone,” she says, giving him a look. “Are we in understanding?”

“Of course, Your Highness,” Minseok says, and she smiles. She looks at Baekhyun, waiting, and he breathes deeply, resigned.

“Fine,” he mutters, and she smiles, satisfied, going back to her breakfast. 

If Baekhyun shovels down the rest of his noodles and soup and burns the roof of his tongue to prove a point and get out of there, no one has to know (except they all do, and Minseok just follows him out the door, footsteps light and Baekhyun hardly recognizes that they’re there).

.

Minseok is scarily efficient. 

Baekhyun doesn’t even see him much, Minseok working in the shadows and it’s unnerving that even at the faintest idea of entertaining a joke or going out without permission, Minseok is suddenly there, all smiles and glint in his eyes and Baekhyun can’t do anything. Not for lack of trying.

He tries his luck, almost two weeks since Minseok had been assigned to him, Chanyeol having mentioned Kris Wu being in town for a secret gig that night.

He thinks long and hard on whether or not he should go, but when he hears about Z.Tao being a surprise guest, he  _ can’t not  _ go, so he waits until it’s lights out in the Palace, and goes out through his window to go to the back entrance used by the kitchens and staff, halls dark and no one in sight, and he thinks it’s going well, except.

“Don’t forget your phone, Your Highness.”

He jumps, almost falling over and barely holding back a scream, and Minseok is there, looking relaxed and holding his phone in one hand. 

“Wh-why are you still awake?” he says, chest still pounding in shock, and Minseok just tilts his head at him.

“I should ask the same of you, my Prince,” he says, and Baekhyun wants to glare, but he’s still a little out of it. “Where are you going at this time of night?”

“I,” he mumbles, trying to stand straight, and he clears his throat, thinking fast. “Was just going to get a bit of a nightcap in the kitchens.”

“In a Gucci jacket and designer jeans?” 

“I like to be in style when I drink,” he says, and Minseok’s face is infuriatingly expressionless aside from the curiosity, and he fights the urge to kiss it off of him. 

“Alright,” he says, “but why are you out in the gardens?”

“I wanted to take the scenic route,” he says.

“Scenic route. To go to the kitchens to have a nightcap. In a full outfit and styled hair and makeup.”

Baekhyun huffs. “You know I’m lying. Just tell me to go to my room so I can be embarrassed about it in my sleep.”

“Where were you planning to go, Your Highness?”

“Does it matter?” he huffs, and Minseok just waits patiently.

“I caught Chanyeol just a bit ago-”

“Of course you did.”

“And he mentioned a private performance? Kris Wu?” he says, and Baekhyun huffs again. “Considering that I offered to drive him there, I think it only fair that I offer you, as well.”

“What?” Baekhyun blinks, not expecting that. 

“Chanyeol’s waiting in the car,” he says simply. “If you’re going to be watching a show and presumably drinking, I would much rather that I be present, so I can at the very least drive you both back.”

Baekhyun blinks again. “You’re. Not going to make my go back to my room?”

“You’re an adult, you can make your own decisions,” Minseok says. “If you want to go see a concert, then that’s your choice. My job isn’t to hinder you from what you want to do. I’m not your manager. It’s to guard you and make sure you’re safe. I’m not a total tyrant, like that image of me you have in your head.”

Baekhyun has the decency to blush, but says, “Won’t you get in trouble with my mom? And Junmyeon and Kyungsoo?”

“Why would they? I’m doing my job just fine,” he says, and Baekhyun continues to be confused. “You both will be very safe under my care. Are you coming, or not?”

And that’s how Baekhyun finds himself in the backseat with Chanyeol fiddling with his phone to sync with the car’s speaker system and singing along to some of Kris Wu’s songs, moving his hands excitedly with the beats, Minseok driving them through the rather empty streets, and Baekhyun can’t stop staring at his profile from where he’s sat. 

“You’re oddly very chill about us trying to sneak out,” he says, and Minseok just smiles quietly, eyes on the road. 

“Her Royal Highness had warned me about it,” he says. “Everyone did. They all tried to stop you, and it’s proven to be very unsuccessful.”

“Well, for  _ them,”  _ Chanyeol says, an Baekhyun stomps on his foot, making him grunt and curl back in his seat, pained.

“So it’s ineffective. And I don’t want to exhaust myself trying to stop you from doing what you want,” he says, “so the best I can do is make sure you’re safe when you’re doing it. But trust that I  _ will _ put a stop to things if you start misbehaving or doing anything too unsightly.”

“This is weird,” Baekhyun says, knowing he’s not completely out of the woods yet, and he doesn’t know what to think. “I feel like there’s a catch. None of the other guards have ever let me out.”

“Because you snuck out on them, Your Highness,” Minseok says, shaking his head. He’s rather cute. “I’m sure, if you had just  _ asked,  _ they would have arranged something similar.”

“It kind of takes the thrill out of it, though,” Chanyeol says, and at this Minseok cracks a small smile.

“Yes, well. At least you would get to go out and all parties can be relaxed about it, hmm?”

He parks the car, and walks behind them as they make their way in to the venue. Chanyeol keeps bouncing and talking, excited and lively, and Baekhyun does his best to ignore the fact that his bodyguard is just a few feet away, eyes like a hawk on both of them. It’s a good time, the crowd good and Z.Tao  _ had  _ come and they’d performed a legendary medley together, and Baekhyun finds that he’s enjoying himself. 

Later on, he even finds himself talking up a gorgeous girl up at the improvised bar set-up in the venue, liking her magenta-colored hair and bright eyes and smile, and it’s going well, really very lovely. 

She walks off to take a quick trip to the bathroom, and then Minseok is suddenly in front of him, eyes in a blank stare. 

“Are you planning to bring her to the Palace?” he asks, and Baekhyun really wishes he would show some more emotion, because he’s having a hard time trying to decipher what he’s thinking.

“Well, yes,” he says, and he tries to gage him, but to no avail. “Am I not allowed to?”

“Whether you’re allowed to or not doesn’t change the fact that you will,” he says, and Baekhyun is so  _ nervous  _ for some reason.

“Well, that would be up to you, isn’t it?”

“You can do what you want, Your Highness, I just have to make sure you’re safe,” he says, and he pluck out a card from inside his jacket. Baekhyun blinks, looking at it, and it’s some sort of driver’s license.

“This is your new friend’s ID,” he says, and Baekhyun almost spits out his spiked cider. “I took it from her bag a while ago, just to do some background research.”

“You can’t just  _ steal  _ someone’s stuff!” Baekhyun says, but Minseok doesn’t react.

“Well, in any case, she checks out, so if you want to bring her back, you can do so. You’re not particularly encouraged, but at least no one can tell you it’s careless, now,” he says, and Baekhyun blinks. Before he can say anything else though, Minseok slips away, just as his new friend makes her way back to him, makeup refreshed and looking brighter.

“Oh, my license,” she says, and Baekhyun looks down to where she’s looking, her ID left on the counter. 

“Um, it fell out out of your bag, I picked it up for you,” he says, and she grins at him. 

“Thank you,” she says, taking it and her hand is on his thigh and their faces are suddenly very close. “That was very nice of you.”

“It was no problem,” he says, smiling back, and he braves a small kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Is this okay?”

“More than,” her smile turns small, soft and her eyes knowing. “Want to take this somewhere a little more private?”

“How about a little more Royal?” he says, and she laughs. He looks up, catches Minseok mid-eye roll near the exit, and he tries not to huff; that was a  _ great  _ line. 

Regardless of his security’s less than enthusiastic reaction to his catch-up lines, he has a  _ fantastic  _ night, and Minseok is even nice enough to drive her back to where she needs to be himself come dawn.

“You know, Minseok isn’t so bad,” Chanyeol is saying to him later during a late breakfast, a wonderful morning in which neither of them were scolded for leaving late at night, something that has never happened before, his mouth stuffed with cereal and milk and Baekhyun makes a face at him, but doesn’t disagree. “He was pretty cool about everything.”

“Yeah. I guess he is pretty cool, as far as bodyguards go,” Baekhyun says, and he thinks that maybe this arrangement won’t be as bad as he’s anticipating it to be. He thinks, he’s okay with this, this might just work.

.

“I need a new bodyguard.”

His mother looks up from where she’s reading status reports, and he stares at her, trying to look serious and authoritative, but the pleading in his eyes is giving him away. He looks more like a kicked puppy, but if that will get him what he wants, well.

“Why would I do that, Baekhyun?” she says, glancing over to where Minseok is standing near the door, face still so stupidly handsome and blank and Baekhyun is being driven to his wits’ end. “Have you been in any sort of danger? Has an accident happened?”

“Well, no,” he says, pouting, “but-”

“Frankly, Your Highness, he’s never been safer,” Junmyeon says from where he’s standing next to her desk, and Baekhyun glares at him. Kyungsoo makes an embarrassed noise from where he’s standing behind Baekhyun, at a distance, and Baekhyun  _ will  _ have their necks for this.

“No, I see it,” she says, considering him carefully. “He’s been doing a very good job. I don’t see why you need a new bodyguard.”

_ “This  _ is why I need a new bodyguard,” he says, and he sits down on the hair in front of the desk and slips off his sandals, lifts his foot up.

She blinks. “Your socks?”

He pulls off his sock, and all over his foot, there’s a thick substance of clear orange, with peels and pulp between his toes and he continues to glare.

“Is that, um, yuzu jelly?”

“He traded his socks with mine!” he says, and he tries to sound appalled and angry but he’s mostly begging. “Didn’t even warn me! I just wanted to put on my socks to try out these new shoes Siwon bought for me and then  _ oh, why does it feel weird,  _ and-”

“He swapped socks with you?” she asks, looking over to where Minseok is standing, not having moved an inch, and it’s unnerving. “Which means someone must have put the jelly in his socks in the first place, hmm?”

Baekhyun blinks, then all the blood is rushing into his head. “I didn’t-”

“Did you put it in his socks, Baekhyun?”

He blinks again, many times, and he huffs out, “Well, yes, I did, but it was just to have a bit of fun and he didn’t have to switch them out and make me wear them-”

“Looks to me it was your fault for putting it there in the first place, and not checking beforehand,” she says, going back to her documents, and Baekhyun whines. “This is hardly something to complain about, or warrant a demand for a new security head. It was your fault, darling, I have told you many times to not do this. Someone else is making you learn your lesson, as I see it.”

“But this isn’t the first time something like this has happened!” he says, and she looks at him.

“Okay. When else has it happened?”

There is that time a week ago, the second time he and Chanyeol had gone out after asking Minseok, at another gig that Chanyeol had heard about, and it was a good time. Too much of a good time.

“Your Highness, no more,” Minseok had said, plucking the drink out of his hands, and Baekhyun had pouted, his feet swaying, but he more or less keeps his balance. Barely. “I’ve indulged you long enough. You have a brunch meeting with your father and members of Parliament tomorrow, you must restrain yourself.”

Baekhyun had pouted harder, blinking prettily, “But  _ Minnie-” _

“Wait here, I’ll go collect your cousin,” he sighs, looking to the bartender. “Please, no more for him. He’ll throw up all over your counter if you give in.”

“Ah, don’t listen to him,” he says, smiling at the bartender, who gives him an amused look. “He’s an old fart.”

“He looks younger than you.”

“He’s ancient,” he says in an ineffective stage whisper, and the bartender laughs. “One little shot won’t hurt.”

“I’m honestly scared of your friend, so that’s a no,” he says, and Baekhyun pouts, leaning forward on the counter and batting his eyelashes. 

“Oh, he’s a kitten, there’s no need to be afraid of him,” he says, just as a hand grips the back of his neck, tight, firm, and he yelps as he’s pulled back, almost losing his footing.

“Time to go, Your Highness,” Minseok is saying, his other hand on the back of Chanyeol’s neck, and he nods at the bartender, thanks him for his troubles as he manhandles them out the door. 

“I’m surprised he chose not to do more,” is his mother’s response to this recounting of events, and he frowns.

“I wish he did,” Kyungsoo murmurs, not soft enough for Baekhyun not to hear, but he supposed that’s the point. He glares at him, frowning, but he looks back at his mother with a fire in his veins. 

“There’s also the shampoo incident,” he begins to say, recounting another similar occurrence of an example on why he _absolutely_ ** _needs_** a new bodyguard. 

It had happened just a few days ago, when Baekhyun had been in the kitchens wanting some scrambled eggs, and just as Jungsoo was about to start cooking, Minseok had come in calmly, and said, “Allow me to help with the oil for frying.”

He then brought out a shampoo bottle, and both Jungsoo’s and Baekhyun’s eyes widen, but for very different reasons. 

“Minseok, that’s shampoo, I can’t-”

“Smell,” he pops open the cap and brings it up to his nose, and Jungsoo blinks, before doing as he’s told. 

His eyes are very round, “Is that. It smells like, olive oil.”

“Hmm,” Minseok hums, and proceeds to pour a generous amount into the pan, turning on the heat himself. “I wonder where my shampoo must have gone, then.”

Baekhyun blinks several times, and Minseok keeps his eyes steady on him, unmoving and when he raises an eyebrow slowly, one of the few times Baekhyun has seen some semblance of emotion on him, Baekhyun  _ whimpers. _

“So that was your fault, as well?” she says, and Baekhyun whines.

“Mom, please,” he draws out the words, pouting and pouting. 

“It sounds to me that you want a new guard because he’s not easy to fall into your tricks and you’re not having much fun. He’s perfectly efficient, there will be no hiring of new security,” she says, done with the conversation and turning all her attention to the reports in front of her. “Minseok, keep up the good work.”

“Yes, Your Highness, thank you,” he says, first thing he’s said the entire time they’d been there, and Baekhyun looks back at him, frowning and glaring, but all he gets for his trouble is a curt, respectful nod, and the faintest hint of a smile.

.

He’s hungry and angry and annoyed, and in retaliation for everything, he’d been trying to go out almost every night, telling no one, but it doesn’t matter, because Minseok is at the gate each time and offering to drive him, and it just puts out the burn and Baekhyun huffs each time, stalking back to his room with every reluctance.

Tonight, he’d locked himself in his room and played games on his computer until his fingers hurt from the controller and jabbing at buttons and keys too much, and he’d skipped dinner as a form of childish protest, and he regrets it a lot now, stomach empty and makes its needs known, growling and achingly in need of something to fill it.

He sighs, pausing his game and glancing at the time, frowning automatically when he sees it’s almost one in the morning, and he thinks of what he can do for his hunger now. 

He thinks, thinks, and he remembers that there’s a small place near the Palace, nondescript and has the  _ best  _ kimchi cup rice, and he puts on his shoes and his largest hoodie, and shuffles out of his room. 

He doesn’t make it very far, typically.

“Your Highness.”   
He groans loudly, not caring for his volume, and he turns to glare at Minseok, who’s in a robe and looking comfortable, patient but impersonal as he always is. Baekhyun is endlessly frustrated.

“Why,  _ why,  _ can’t you ever,  _ ever,  _ leave me alone?” he says, glaring at him. Minseok doesn’t look very affected, because  _ of course. _

“When you go off on your own, there is always a possibility of danger. I wouldn’t be doing what is required of me, then,” he answers, and Baekhyun mutters nonsense to himself, walking away. 

“Your Highness, where do plan on going? Allow me to drive you-”

_ “No,”  _ he bites out. “I’m going to the cup rice place and buy myself some food, you don’t need to go with me everywhere-”

“I’m afraid that place is closed for the evening, Your Highness,” Minseok tells him, and Baekhyun pauses in his steps.

“Isn’t it a 24 hours place?”

Minseok shakes his head, and Baekhyun slumps, sighing.

“I’m really hungry, though,” he mumbles, feeling Minseok’s eyes on him. “I think the fast food place does delivery at this time-”

“That’s not good for you, Your Highness,” Minseok says, and Baekhyun wants to kick him for talking.

“What does it matter? I don’t want to have to wake Jungsoo or any of the other kitchen staff just because I’m hungry,” he says, and Minseok tilts his head, looking at him curiously.

Baekhyun refuses to acknowledge how cute he is. 

“Can you cook, Your Highness?”

“I, um, not much. I can, but I wouldn’t risk it now,” he says, and his stomach grumbles, and he holds it, staring at his belly haughtily. “I’m afraid I don’t have much energy now to make anything other than ramyeon, and I have that too much as it is.”

Minseok considers him for a minute, and then he’s saying, “Come with me, Your Highness,” turning around and walking, and Baekhyun blinks, but follows, not really thinking much. He thinks it’s the hunger, very much not the way Minseok’s eyes brightened and his mouth soft, not quite a smile, but something all the same.

They make their way down to the kitchens, and Minseok turns on all the lights, drawing out a chair at the table for Baekhyun to sit on. “Please, allow me a few minutes.”

“What are you doing?” he asks as Minseok brings out a pan, some jars from the refrigerator, some packets and other things. 

“I’m cooking for you,” he says simply, chopping through an onion carefully. “Is kimchi rice alright?”

“I. Yes, it’s fine,” he says, surprised, trying to gather his words as he watches him prepare the kimchi and some ham to go along with the rice. “Minseok, it’s. You don’t have to do this, for me. I was being a brat, I’m sorry-”

“It’s fine, Your Highness,” he says. “I don’t like seeing people hungry. And you didn’t eat dinner, I was concerned. This is nothing.”

He makes quick work of everything, heating up the rice and cooking, and in not much time at all, there’s a big plate full of kimchi fried rice and ham, topped with a nicely cooked egg. It looks good, and smells just as, and Baekhyun’s mouth actually waters.

“Eat well, Your Highness,” Minseok gives him a pair of chopsticks, bowing politely and turning to leave, but Baekhyun’s brain doesn’t like it, and he blurts out without much thought. 

“Wait, Minseok,” he says, stopping him. “Don’t leave.”

“Do you need anything else?” he asks, and Baekhyun feels like he’s getting whiplash, hating Minseok to his toes just a while ago, to now being really very touched and thankful, that he’s taking care of him like this, with something as simple but meaningful as a meal he’d made himself. 

“You made too much,” he says, and Minseok looks at the pile of rice he’d made. 

“I can put the rest away for another time, when you’re hungry-“

“No, I mean,” Baekhyun says, trying to word his thoughts properly, “Would you please join me?”

Minseok pauses, and Baekhyun swears that there is a flush of pink across his otherwise expressionless features. “It’s quite alright, Your Highness. I made that just for you-”

“Well, since it’s made for me, I’d like to share it,” he says, offering him a pair of chopsticks as well, and a small smile. “And. I don’t like eating alone. Some company would be very nice.”

“Even mine?” he asks, and Baekhyun thinks, considers what he should say.

“I like your company,” he says, wincing as it comes out.

Minseok, amazingly,  _ snorts, _ actually showing some emotion, derisive though it may be, and takes a seat across him, taking the chopsticks. He picks up the first bite, but is offering it to Baekhyun, and Baekhyun is so surprised that the rice falls from the chopsticks before he can open his mouth.

“Don’t act in such a way in front of food, it’s rude,” Minseok says casually, offering some rice to him again, and Baekhyun takes it this time. 

He tries to hold back a whimper, but the food is warm, cooked well and seasoned just to his liking and it’s delicious. He hums happily, and takes a significantly larger bite for himself, practically inhaling it. 

“Is it good?” Minseok asks, and Baekhyun’s mouth is so full.

“Very good. Thank you,” he says right after he almost chokes on a large mound of rice and halm and runny egg yolk, and he eats some more and more, Minseok kindly fetching him some water and watching him eat quietly. 

“Ah, you must think I’m spoiled,” Baekhyun says after a while, when the hour passes by and the plate of food more than half gone. Minseok blinks, and he continues, “Throwing tantrums and mini hunger strikes, wanting a new bodyguard just because I couldn’t trick you and you getting back at me. I’m sorry. I promise to be more cooperative.”

“It really is fine, Your Highness,” he says, looking like he means it. “I was prepared for this, and to be very honest with you, you haven’t given me much hardship. You’re very kind and playful, and you’re young, of course you’d want to go out and have fun. I see nothing wrong with that.”

Baekhyun looks at him, trying to read his expression, but he can’t quite do it. Not without looking at his features, his round eyes and soft cheeks, gentle smile. He stops trying to decipher him, and he says, “They warned you about me?”

“They did give me a little bit of a briefing,” he says, and he’s tilting his head again, giving Baekhyun a small smile. It looks a little smug. “I’m afraid that they have forgone the fact that you are predictable. Your tricks are quite old, and could be seen a mile away. You’ve already  _ done  _ them, there is room for fresh jokes.”   
“Oh?” Baekhyun says, putting his chopsticks down, and he doesn’t fight the grin tugging at his lips. He’s being  _ teased,  _ and he’s always revelled in a bit of a dare. “Saw everything coming? Made me throw a fit in front of my mother because I can’t pull off a trick?”

“It’s not my fault that you’ve become uninspired with your jokes, Your Highness,” Minseok says coolly, smiling a little more. “Your staff had very kindly warned me of your playful attitude. I was more than prepared for it. I will not quit over oil in my shampoo bottles or fruit in my clothing, Your Highness. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.” 

Baekhyun stares at him. He tries to tamp down the blush he knows is coming. “That. Would be very nice. I’ll just have to think of new jokes, then.”

“I have high expectations. I look forward to them,” is all Minseok says, and the smile he gives is small, quiet, and he’s too pretty, and Baekhyun can’t look at him without feeling  _ a lot,  _ so he doesn’t, instead shoving down all the food into his mouth and trying not to choke on it all as Minseok brings out the dish and washes it off quickly.

They walk back to his room, and Baekhyun watches his shifting feet as he thinks of how to bade him good night. Minseok reads him well, though, and says politely with a bow, “Please wait a while before you sleep, Your Highness. You must digest your food properly.”

“Right, yes, yes,” he says, blinking and blinking.

“Good night, Your Highness,” Minseok says. “If you need anything, you can just call for me. Anytime.”

Baekhyun looks at him, curious, and he asks, “Minseok. Do you sleep?”

“I must confess, not much,” he answers, and Baekhyun doesn’t like that, dislikes it all the more when he realizes it must be because of him, nowadays. “But it’s no trouble. Nothing you should worry yourself over. I’m fine.”

“You should rest. I’ll do my best not to be a menace at night time from now on,” he says, and Minseok shakes his head, trying to refute, but Baekhyun walks off with a determined bounce in his step, saying cheerfully, “Good night, Minseok, thank you for the rice. You know, if this doesn’t work out, you’ll always have a job here in the Palace. You’d make a  _ great  _ cook.”

“Good night, Your Highness,” is all he says, but there is a hint of a laugh in his tone, and Baekhyun keeps it with him.

.

Things are going very well between him and Minseok. Professional and Baekhyun keeps his end of the deal by behaving from eleven in the evening to eight in the morning everyday, but while there’s sun, it doesn’t stop him from trying to catch Minseok off guard, to no avail.

He had tried the standard changing the ringtone to a fart noise joke, and Minseok had merely looked at his phone and listened to the flatulence for a moment before casually, nonchalantly saying he had too many red beans in his bingsu, right in front of his mother. 

He’d also replaced all the app icons in his phone with cat faces and changed the names along with it with pet names. When Minseok had realized, he’d pointed at the icon for his emails and said that it looked a lot like his own cat. Baekhyun thinks he actually liked the trick more than he did doing it. The last time he’d taken a peek at his phone, he hadn’t changed the icons back. 

Another time, he had painted all the soap bars with clear varnish. Minseok had them proceeded to gather them all and place them next to other art pieces in the Palace, labeling them how most museums would their collections, per piece. Junmyeon and Kyungsoo had had a field day, and Minseok and Baekhyun had received a joint lecture, and Chanyeol had recorded the whole thing, struggling to hold back his laughter and failing, his Starbucks coming out of his nose for all his efforts. 

It doesn’t make him mad, though. It’s fun, and he looks for Minseok’s reaction and isn’t disappointed when he figures it out and never falls for them. Seeing the amused smile isn’t so bad, and he keeps making more and more tricks, hoping one will crack him, but is surprisingly okay with the possibility that none of them might. 

He didn’t think that kimchi fried rice would make much of a difference, but. Well. 

.

The longer they are together, the more he learns about Minseok, and how Baekhyun knows he’s not meant to just be a bodyguard.

It starts off when Baekhyun realizes he needs to get his nails cut.

His mother complains about it every time she sees him, and he’s beginning to see her point, when he keeps making typing mistakes when he uses his computer and the screen of his phone can’t quite read his touch as well as it should.

It’s a little past midnight, and he knocks on Minseok’s door, just a few down from his own, and he says when he opens the door, “Is there a nail salon that’s open now?”

Minseok blinks at him, reading glasses on. Baekhyun takes him in, acknowledging quietly how  _ perfect  _ he looks, professorial and he loses his train of thought.

“Nail salon, Your Highness?” he asks, tilting his head.

“I keep losing because these are too long,” he explains, holding up his hands and showing them off to him. 

Minseok blinks, then slowly starts, “Can’t. Can’t you cut your nails yourself, Your Highness?”

“I don’t like cutting them myself,” he says, and he winces when he realizes how spoiled he sounds. “It’s, it’s not. I mean, I don’t do it myself because I always end up cutting away too much so my fingers end up sore every time I try, or I end up giving myself a few hangnails. I’m not completely dexterous with nail cutters.”

“Well, it’s past midnight, Your Highness, I doubt there are any places open at this time,” Minseok tells him, and Baekhyun pouts. “Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

“I’m about to beat Chanyeol’s high score, I’d really like to have it done now, if it’s okay,” he says, voice sounding small, and Minseok sighs a little in front of him, thinking. Baekhyun is quiet for a few moments, then he gets an idea, but is afraid to voice it out. He starts slowly, “If, if it’s not too much trouble. I’m about to sound like a brat, but. Can you, um. Help me? Cut them?”

“Me? Cutting your nails?” Minseok raises an eyebrow at him, and he’s immediately terrifying and hellishly attractive. 

“Please?” he says, pleads. 

“You’re a  _ grown man,  _ you should cut your own nails.”

“I know, I know,” he says, “and it’s not exactly part of your job and this is making me look pathetic-“

“A little, yes.”

“-But I am  _ so close  _ to getting over six million points and getting a new high score and if I don’t beat Chanyeol, that Giraffe will hold this over my head  _ forever-” _

“Just let me freshen up first, I’ll follow to your room,” he says, sighing, and Baekhyun beams at him, and does as he’s told.

He’s sitting cross-legged on his bed when Minseok makes his way to his quarters a few minutes later, and Minseok looks at him for a long while. 

“Your bed? Really, Your Highness?” he says. 

“You’re about to cut my nails, please call me Baekhyun or any cute variation thus,” he says, and Minseok looks like he’s either fond or exasperated, which is somewhat always similar when it comes to Baekhyun. 

“I’d be more comfortable addressing you formally, Your Highness.”

“Ah, but it’s so restricting,” Baekhyun pouts, tries again. “Please?”

It takes him a moment, but he eventually says after a silence and a sigh, “Baekhyun.”

He grins immediately. “Perfect.”

“Your bed, Baekhyun? Really?” he says. “Can’t we do it somewhere else? The couch?”

Baekhyun just shakes his head, and he looks up, beaming as he pats the mattress in front of where he’s seated. “Please, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“Sitting on the place you sleep sounds rather awkward and uncomfortable,” he says, but Baekhyun pouts, sticking out his bottom lip, and Minseok is sighing soon, removing his slippers by the door and gingerly mimicking Baekhyun’s position. 

“Alright, your hands, Baekhyun,” he says, offering out his palms, and Baekhyun slides his hands into his, and he gasps a little. “What is it?”

“Your hands,” he mumbles, blushing, now a little embarrassed for reacting the way he did. He relaxes his fingers, Minseok cradling his hands gently, running his thumb against the tips of his nails and observing them. “They’re. A little rough. I didn’t think you would have calloused hands.”

“Hmm, being part of security doesn’t seem to warrant much hard work in your perspective, Your Highness?” Minseok remarks, and Baekhyun turns even redder, and it just gets worse when he realizes that this is the first time they’ve actually held hands like this. Minseok’s touch is careful, tender, and he wriggles his fingers in an attempt to distract them both and get him moving.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to sound rude,” he says, and Minseok just chuckles quietly, picking up the nail cutter.

“It’s alright. They are rather rough, aren’t they?” he says, starting with his thumb, the snap of his nail being cut away audible. “I write a lot, mostly notes for when I read.”   
“What do you read?” he asks, and Minseok is even filing the edge after he’s cut the excess nail, meticulous as he seems to be with everything he does.

“Many things,” he says, smiling quietly. He gathers the shavings as he goes, neat and precise, and Baekhyun watches him as he works. “How do you cut your nails usually? Did my predecessors do this for you as well?”

“I mostly went to nail salons,” he admits, “Chanyeol tried once, but. Never again, so it’s always been nail salons, for me.”

“Hmm,” Minseok says, blowing on his fingers lightly, making Baekhyun jerk a little, but he’s rubbing his thumb along his fingers, calming him. “I assume you tip them well.”

“I do,” he says, a little confused. “Why bring it up?”

“Makes you think, doesn’t it? Most of those workers don’t get great job security.”

“What makes you say that?” Baekhyun asks him, and Minseok looks up at him, considering, and he starts.

“Many of these workers across retail and the like are more likely to be contractualized and once their six months or so are up, they’re at a rope’s end. They do your nails and make sure you look good but what’s in it really, for them, you know?” he says, and Baekhyun blinks, a little impressed.

“I know,” Baekhyun says, and he looks at Minseok curiously, and Minseok is usually quiet, speaking mostly when Baekhyun needs something, but speaking like this, about this, it’s enlightening and telling of his beliefs, and Baekhyun immediately respects him more. “My mother, my grandfather are doing the best they can to fix that.”

“I know they are,” Minseok says, “but it is very dangerous, especially for the women. I’m sure you already know this, but they still get less pay and they’re more vulnerable to scheming and manipulative employers because the system takes care of them less.”

“You have a lot to say about this,” and he does. It’s the most he’s heard Minseok say in one go.

“I have a lot to say about many things,” he says, starting on Baekhyun’s other hand. He’d barely even noticed he was already finished with the first one. 

“Is this what you take notes on?” Minseok smiles quietly.

“Amongst other things.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t think you’d be very interested to know about what I read about,” he says, but Baekhyun wiggles his fingers again, curling his pinkies against his palms and he watches as the smile on Minseok’s face widens slightly.

“You’re plenty interesting,” he says, “tell me what you were reading about before I knocked on your door.”

Minseok doesn’t speak for a minute, focused on filing his nails, and Baekhyun thinks he doesn’t want to talk much more. But then he’s saying, “I was reading about that luxury resort and recreational vacation spot in construction being built by the mountains, near Yanggu.”

“And what about it?” Baekhyun asks him, and he’s heard about it himself, curious to know what Minseok thinks of it.

“I don’t particular approve of it,” he says, a humorless smile on his face. “I mean, I suppose I don’t have much say in the matter, as I’m just security detail, but. That’s ancestral land they’re destroying. Those people there, they sign over the land because they don’t know what’s in those contracts and they’re taken advantage of by really disgusting people, so they lose what’s theirs. Ah, it’s frustrating. Alright, it’s finished.”

“What?” Baekhyun blinks, and Minseok, still holding his hands, lifts them up to his face, and his nails are done, clean and short just the right length to be comfortable, and he’s smiling gently at him, looking particularly soft with his glasses. “Oh. You’re fast.”

“No, cutting nails don’t take much time, usually,” he says, and he’s even cleaning up after himself, gathering the trimmings in a tissue and throwing them away. He’s unfazed by it all.

“Has my mother asked you about this stuff?” Baekhyun asks him, and Minseok chuckles.

“She has conversed with me, mostly when we’re travelling,” he says, “I think to pass the time while we’re on the road. She was just humoring me.”

“I don’t think so,” he says, “I think she thinks you’re smarter than me.”

“No, that’s not right. She  _ knows  _ that I’m smarter than you,” Minseok says nonchalantly, and Baekhyun pouts at him, but he’s not wrong. “Ah, I cook for you, drive you to parties and to get you food, put up with your measly jokes, and now I cut your nails. I should be getting higher pay for all this.”

“I’m an angel,” Baekhyun says, and Minseok  _ snorts  _ at him.

“Good night, Your Highness,” he says, bowing as he goes to leave the room.

“Baekhyun! Call me Baekhyun!” he’s saying loudly, pouting that he’s reverted back to being overly formal, and Minseok just smiles at him.

“Maybe when we are more comfortable,” he says, and the way he says it, it’s evident he thinks that that will never come to fruition, but Baekhyun is, if anything, determined. He likes the way his name sounds, coming from those lips.

.

“Minseok needs a raise.”

“Good morning to you too, darling,” his mother says as she pours out her tea, and he plops down on the seat next to her, ignoring Junmyeon’s stare, and he lays his cheek on her shoulder, pleading with his gaze.

“He needs a raise,” he says again, making sure his cheeks are nice and puffy.

“Is this because he cut your nails?”

“How’d you know about that?” he says, and she gives him a look as she sips her tea.

“Kyungsoo.”

“How’d he - nevermind,” he says, as there’s no point. Kyungsoo and Junmyeon know  _ everything  _ that happens within the walls of the Palace for some reason, and he’d rather not fight it at the moment. “He’s doing an excellent job.”

“Yes, he has a tendency to do his job rather well, doesn’t he?” she says. “I’ll take care of it.”

He pauses, and sits up straight, not expecting for it to be that easy to convince her. “Really? Just like that?”

“It’s been several months, and he’s doing well. It’s deserved,” she says, and Baekhyun blinks, surprised. But he thinks quickly, and she seems to be in a good mood, so he decides to go ahead and ask her.

“Mom. About the resort in Yanggu-”

“Ah, so he’s spoken to you about this as well,” she says, small smile on her face. 

“I’m the one who asked,” he says, not wanting to make Minseok appear pushy, nosing around in business that isn’t his. “He has very strong feelings about it.”

“So do I,” she says, and he waits for her to speak, a little on the edge of his seat. “The ball’s already rolling.”

Baekhyun stares at her. “Really?”

“There’s a court order for the company about to be sent out,” she says, and Baekhyun is. A little shell shocked. “Those conversations in the car were very enlightening to say the least.”

He relaxes in his seat, a little relieved and happy, knows Minseok will be really very pleased when he hears about it. Then, thinking quickly, he says, “Ah, but don’t tell Minseok he had a hand in influencing it. It will just inflate his ego.”

“Well, he did convince you enough to make you come to talk to me about it, hmm?” she says, and Baekhyun stares at his plate of ham and rice, cheeks heating and feeling her and Junmyeon’s smirks on him.

.

When Baekhyun walks into the kitchen later that night for some ice cream, he certainly doesn’t expect to see Chanyeol, eyes groggy and his head on the table and making indiscernible noises, Minseok by the counter, chopping up several things, the pan already sizzling with onions and garlic and bacon and Baekhyun breathes it in, already wanting a bit of it.

“What’s...this?” he asks, and Chanyeol grunts from the table.

“His Highness went day drinking and is dealing with the consequences,” Minseok says simply, adding more ingredients to the pan and tossing everything together, ingredients flying out of the pan before falling back in quickly.

“But. Where’s his bodyguard?”

“Hyukjae is currently washing himself off,” Minseok answers. “His Highness, well. He had thrown up. On him.”

“Yeol, you didn’t,” Baekhyun says. Chanyeol just grunts again.

“He did. I offered to take care of him for the night,” he says, adding rice to the pan and mixing it in. “This is to help with the hangover.”

“I thought you had a freakishly high tolerance?” Baekhyun says, and Chanyeol looks at him blearily. 

“I underestimated Heechul’s liquor collection,” he says, sniffing. “Never again.”

“In any case, you should eat up. You haven’t had dinner either,” Minseok is saying, and Chanyeol gives him a sleepy little smile.

“Can I have some?” 

“Of course, Your Highness,” he says, cracking a few eggs open in a separate pan, frying them in butter. “Is there anything else you want?”

“Did anyone touch my ice cream?” he asks, and Chanyeol raises his head curiously, blinking blearily in the dim light. 

“Ice cream?”

“Jungsoo informed me that it had been hidden behind the steaks in the freezer, Your Highness,” Minseok answers, and Baekhyun beams as he goes to fetch his pint of strawberries and cream, and just as he’s returning, Minseok is setting a plate of bacon fried rice topped with melty cheese and a few eggs, perfectly cooked and the yolk waiting to be broken.

“Eat well, Your Highness,” he says, helping Chanyeol sit up in his seat and offering him a spoon to eat with. Baekhyun pouts, sitting next to him and uncapping his ice cream. Minseok quietly hands him a few spoons, for his ice cream and the rice, and he brightens immediately with the attention. 

“Hmmm,  _ hmmmm,”  _ Chanyeol hums, moaning around the huge bite he had taken, savoring the taste and Baekhyun takes a bite of his own, sighing contentedly around the food in his mouth. “Minnie,  _ Minnie.” _

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” he chides, but saying nothing of the nickname, spooning up more and offering him another bite when Chanyeol opens his mouth. Baekhyun stares at them, and opens his mouth as well, asking for more, and Minseok cocks an eyebrow at him, but feeds him as well, wiping his chin with his fingers when some of the yolk spills. 

“We never have food like this,” Chanyeol says, scooping up a large mound on his spoon, looking at it so fondly. “Jungsoo and the staff are great, their food is amazing. But it’s always so fancy and dainty. Sometimes I want rice and bacon and egg and be unhealthy.”

“You’re very lucky to have your staff,” Minseok tells them, watching them as they devour their food. “They work very hard.”

“We’re lucky to have you, too,” Baekhyun says, and Chanyeol hums around a full mouth, eyes bright and round with his agreement. Baekhyun isn’t surprised to feel a flush across his cheeks when Minseok looks at him, tilting his head, as if trying to gage out his intentions.

“You have the best security,” Chanyeol tells him later on when they’re up in Baekhyun’s room and he’s sobered up, belly full with rice and lots of water that Minseok had made him drink. They’re playing games on his console, and Baekhyun jabs at his controller, trying to avoid the mines and push Chanyeol’s avatar into danger, but to no avail. 

“Hyukjae would be hurt to hear you say that,” he replies, and Chanyeol snorts at him. 

“Yes, maybe, but Auntie really was looking out for you, when she let Minseok be your bodyguard,” he tells him, eyes ablaze as his character jumps in the air and gains a new life. “No one’s ever made me pick me up food for when I get drunk and hungover. He doesn’t even work  _ for me.” _

“He does too much for me,” Baekhyun says, eyes blurring as the screen’s visual changes too quickly. “He’s too kind. Takes care of me too well.”

“I wouldn’t see that as a bad thing.”

“It’s not,” he says, jabbing at buttons uselessly. “They’ve all taken care of me. But he does more than what’s required of him and makes me feel comfortable and. I really like having him around?”

“I would feel the same way,” Chanyeol says, “and I wouldn’t be surprised if sooner or later I’d maybe wanna kiss him a little.”

Baekhyun’s avatar accidentally steps on a mine, and he yells in surprise, jumping a little and falling on his back. Chanyeol stares at him, looking confused. 

“Did I win?” 

“Go back to your room,” he pushes him off his bed, panicked and feeling his heart pound in his chest.

“Oh. Do you feel like you want to do that? I’m not a threat, he doesn’t look at me the way he looks at you-“

“Good  _ night,  _ Chanyeol,” he hisses, slamming the door once he’s out of his room, ignoring his whining about his slippers still being inside, desperately trying not to think about the last thing he had said before being pushed out the door. 

.

“I don’t want to go home yet,” Baekhyun says, leaning back in his seat and staring out the window. His meeting with the delegates for the diplomatic conference had ended early, and the day is nice and he looks out, yearning, and really not wanting to spend the day holed up in the Palace, as is usual. 

“What would you like to do, Your Highness?” Minseok asks him from the front, and Baekhyun sighs.

“I don’t know,” he says, staring out. “Funny. I’ve been living here all my life and I don’t know many places where I can go. I just want to sit somewhere and breathe.”

Minseok is quiet, for one moment, which becomes several moments, and Baekhyun thinks he’s been ignored. He pouts, crossing his arms and staying quiet. 

It takes several minutes of silence, but then they’re parking, and Baekhyun is confused, looking out the window to see where they are. 

“A convenience store?” he says, and Minseok gracefully clambers out, going over to his side and opening the door for him. “What?”

“Ah. Not just a convenience store,” he says, and he goes in, holding the door open for him. Baekhyun looks at him, thoroughly confused, but he’s told to get what he wants, so he does, picking out a few packets of chips and taro tea and strawberry milk and cheese sticks and some sweet cakes and a few ice popsicles. Minseok raises an eyebrow when he sees all that he’s picked out, and Baekhyun is a little flushed.

“Is it too much?”

“I like that you’re eating a lot, it’s good to not be stingy with yourself,” he says, but taking everything and bringing it to the counter, and Baekhyun realizes that he’s about to pay for it all, and  _ that’s  _ why he had looked at him that way.

“Ah, Minseok, I’ll pay for it,” he says, but Minseok is already handing over some bills to the cashier.

“I brought you here, it’s only right I should pay,” he says, taking the bag of their purchases, and when they exit the store, he points out beyond, and Baekhyun follows him.

“Han River?” he says, walking when Minseok guides him to, hand on his back and they make their way down. “There are too many people, I don’t know if I can be seen here-“

“It’s alright, Your Highness,” he's saying quietly, “I know a more private spot. It will be to your liking.”

Minseok brings him to an emptier area, where the tree are lush and the view of the water is serene, and Baekhyun lets out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. 

“Oh,” he says, and Minseok lays out his jacket on the ground for him to sit on. “Oh, no, your clothes-“

“Can be washed,” he says, taking his hands and helping him sit down. Baekhyun shouldn’t be blushing at such a simple gesture, but he feels his cheeks pink up, and he tries to hide it in his hands, and he takes everything in, one breath at a time. 

He takes his yogurt ice popsicle and tries to make himself look a little busier, and offers the ice cream cone to Minseok, who looks at him curiously, still standing up.

“Please sit, it looks awkward as hell if I’m on the ground and you’re not,” he tells him, and Minseok just blinks.

“Why would it be awkward?” he asks and Baekhyun pulls on his pants, determined. 

“Sit, Minnie,” he uses his cute voice, smiling cutely and patting his cheeks cutely. “Please?  _ Please?” _

“You’re an Oxford graduate, it’s unbecoming for you to behave this way,” Minseok huffs, but he’s blushing, sitting down next to him with a bit of reluctance, but he doesn’t quite relent with the ice cream. “That’s yours.”

“And I want to give it to you,” he says, waving it a little. “I got this much to share, for both of us.”

“Really, Your Highness, it’s fine,” Minseok says, but Baekhyun smiles at him one more time, and he’s sighing, taking it. “We’re becoming too friendly, Your Highness.”

“Good, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable around me,” Baekhyun says, taking a bite from his popsicle and regretting it immediately when the cold bites at his teeth. Minseok visibly holds back a laugh, and Baekhyun wants him to not have to hide how he feels around him. He doesn’t around Minseok, for the most part at least. 

“How’d you find out about this place?” he asks him, and Minseok turns to look at him just as he’s trying the ice cream. His eyes are wide and his mouth opened ridiculously cute around the cone, like a hamster. Baekhyun tells his heart to calm down, reminds himself of the time Minseok had tackled a burly six foot tall white man to the ground and had gotten out unscathed. It doesn’t help much, even makes things worse, he finds. “I don’t think I’ve seen this part of the river before. It’s so quiet.”

“Hmm,” Minseok says, swallowing his food before speaking, “I found it when I was in university. I always liked the river, but I didn’t want to be surrounded by all those couples. So I explored, and found this spot. I don’t get to go here much, nowadays, but it hasn’t changed much.”

“It does seem a very you place,” Baekhyun says, watching him eat the cone carefully.  “So this was where you took your notes, before?”

“One of the places, yes,” he says, looking out to the water and smiling at the memories. “It was such a long time ago.”

“Which decade?”

“Don’t be smart, Your Highness,” he says, and Baekhyun can practically hear him calling him,  _ “Brat.”  _ He grins. “I’m only a few years older than you.”

“What did you take in university, then?”

“Political Science.”

“That somehow doesn’t surprise me,” Baekhyun says, and he smiles quietly at him. Minseok returns the smile, and it looks sincere. “How did you find yourself in the Palace?”

“It’s not a very interesting story.”

“I want to know anyway,” he says, showing his intent to listen well by opening a cheese stick, ready to snack as he tells his story. 

Minseok sighs, but he starts, “I was looking for work in the Palace after I finished my Masters, but you’d find that even if you graduated with honors and many recommendations to back you up, it’s still hard to find a good job.”

“So how’d you find your way to becoming part of security?” he asks, feeding him some of his cheese. Minseok glares at him, but takes a bite all the same. 

“Changmin,” he answers, and Baekhyun feels his eyebrows shoot up. 

“Dad’s bodyguard?”

Minseok nods, and there’s a slight blush across his cheeks. Baekhyun is intrigued. “He and I trained together, martial arts, when we were younger. He found me an in.”

“You must have been really good friends for him to look out for you like that,” he says, and Minseok’s blush deepens. 

“We. We’re very close.”

“Oh,  _ oh,”  _ Baekhyun says, surprised, maybe a little deflated. He really should be more shocked that he feels that way, but.

“No, Your Highness,” Minseok is shaking his head, face pink and his eyes bright. It’s the first time he’s seen him so flustered. “Not. I mean, we used to, before I started working for your mother. We’re just friends now. Ah, why am I even saying this-“

“No, it’s alright, Minnie,” he says, and Minseok looks so embarrassed, hiding his face behind his hands and looking so soft. It’s a different world. “That’s your business. I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable. It was very good of him, to help you get a job.”

“He is, he’s a very good friend,” he says, and he’s staring at his lap, and Baekhyun feels a little bad, for making him look like that. “It’s not quite what I was aiming for, but. It’s something. I’ve been fortunate.”

“But you obviously don’t want to be watching over my ass forever,” Baekhyun says, and Minseok looks at him, He looks as if he wants to say something, opening and closing his mouth, but he stops himself, and looks back down on his lap. Baekhyun asks him, “What was it you wanted to do?”

“I wanted to work in the office of an advisor,” he says, “work my way up to maybe becoming one. But, I think they perceived my views as too. Maybe, a bit too radical.”

“Wanting good for people who deserve better and trying to ensure that everyone has equal chances? Radical?” Baekhyun says, and Minseok smiles sadly. “I guess it is, these days.”

“Your family is very good, intelligent, Your Highness,” he says. “They’ve been doing as much as they can. But the people around them. The ones who think too much of themselves and forget who they serve. They’re too plentiful in number and their voices are louder.”

“Well. I suppose we need voices like yours,” Baekhyun says, and Minseok is shaking his head, looking a little embarrassed.

_ ‘We really do, though,’  _ he wants to add, wants to tell him, but Minseok is uncapping the taro tea for him, bringing it up to his mouth, and he finds that that part of the conversation is over, and they take in the water and quiet around them. Baekhyun breathes, breathes it all in.

.

It’s a few days later when things change.

They return to the Palace after a long dinner conference with other young Asian leaders, and Baekhyun shuffles inside, feet aching from wearing his dress shoes too long and whole body stiff from his suit.

“Do you need anything else, Your Highness?” Minseok asks him quietly, considerate of the very late hour, looking handsome in his own suit, and Baekhyun stares at him for a little too long, before he shakes himself off.

“I’m alright, good night, Minseok,” he says initially, and then his stomach achingly disagrees with him, audibly letting them know of its emptiness with a grumble. 

“Ah,” Minseok says, small smile on his face. “Are you hungry, Your Highness?”

“The food they served was too fancy,” he mumbles, holding his stomach and frowning. “The steak was barely a bite, how was I supposed to get full?”

“I can make you something now, if you’d like,” he says, and Baekhyun almost moans with the thought of food, and what more, homey food by Minseok. He chuckles, and walks in ahead to the kitchen. Baekhyun follows, and takes off his jacket along the way, watching as Minseok takes off his own when they get there, rolling up his sleeves and undoing the top buttons of his shirt. 

He doesn’t mean to watch, but. His forearms were quite a sight. 

“Is there anything you would like in particular?” he asks, and Baekhyun stands behind him by the counter, watching him move. 

“I trust your judgement,” he says, and Minseok gives him a little smile. He tries to be of help, offering to try and chop something, but he ends up splattering them both with kimchi juice, so Minseok makes him sit and wait while he cooks some pork belly simply in a pan, frying kimchi and other vegetables together in another as the rice heats up in the microwave. 

He’s brings over two bowls of pork and kimchi topped rice, giving one to Baekhyun as he takes the seat across him, and gesturing for him to eat.

It’s simple food, but comforting and warm and Baekhyun is just short of inhaling it in, filling himself up and Minseok does too much for him. 

“Is it to your liking?” Minseok asks him, like every other time he does this for him, which is becoming too often, and Baekhyun’s answer is always the same. 

“You can do  _ everything,  _ this is so good,” he says, and Minseok smiles gently at him. “Ah. Chanyeol would be so jealous.”

“I don’t think he would be. It’s just pork and rice.”

“Nope, our parents had visitors over, and that’s when Jungsoo goes  _ really  _ fancy,” he grins, stuffing his face.

“Ah, but Jungsoo is a very good chef-“

“Take my praise, Minnie, you deserve it for all the times I’ve been fed properly because of you,” Baekhyun says, waving his humility away, and Minseok looks adorable when he blushes. 

He eats well, and Minseok eats too, slower but his bites a little bigger, and he pauses after some time, watching Baekhyun with a curious look on his face. 

“Your hair. It’s falling over your face, Your Highness,” he says. 

“Ah, it’s fine. It’s not bothering me,” he says, because it’s really not. It covers his eyes and maybe he has to blow it back up a little from time to time as it breaks free from the hold of the hairspray holding it back, but it isn’t unbearable. 

Minseok watches him for another moment, before he brings out from his breast pocket a wad of cash held together in a money clip. 

“Are you going to pay me to tie back my hair?” Baekhyun eyes it, and Minseok rolls his eyes at him, snorting, and removes one of the clips holding it together. It certainly doesn’t look like a money clip; rather, more like a girl’s hair clip, a sweet coral color and with a little cat puff at the end. 

“What. Is that?” he asks, staring at it, then back up at Minseok.

“This clip is my sister’s,” he says, looking a little flushed. Baekhyun blinks at him. “She’d outgrown it, so she gave it to me. A small reminder of home.”

“That’s. Adorable,” Baekhyun says quietly, and he freezes when Minseok reaches over, gathering the fallen strands and carefully arranging his hair with his hands, gentle and meticulous as he pins his hair in place. 

“There,” he says, smiling as he leans back and looks at his handiwork. “That should be better, Your Highness.”

Baekhyun doesn’t know what to do, what to think, feeling too much. This man is too much. A little cold at first but really sweet and thoughtful and kind, so kind, and so surprisingly endearing, and carries around his younger sister’s old hair clip to remind himself of home and using it to hold money and to pin back a stupid prince’s hair so he’s not bothered by his bangs while he eats. 

Baekhyun stands, leans forward, kisses him. 

He makes a soft noise of surprise, but it takes barely a moment before he melt under his mouth, his lips gentle as they move along Baekhyun’s. Baekhyun hums, breathes him in and tastes him, kindness and sweetness, and he brings up his hands and cups his face, pulling him closer. 

It doesn’t last. Minseok pulls back, his eyes wide, wider than Baekhyun’s ever seen them, and his mouth set in a shocked line. 

“Your Highness, no. I’m sorry.”

The formality of the address, the rejection, the apology, makes Baekhyun’s chest go a little cold, his face very hot. He sits back in his seat, hands on his lap and looking down, cheeks flushed and eyes stinging. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,” he says, and. He’s a little crushed. He moves to stand, “I’ll just. Go-“

“Please, don’t,” Minseok says, his tone so soft and Baekhyun feels so bad, for making things immediately awkward between them. “Your Highness, I-“

“I just kissed you. I think you can call me Baekhyun,” he says under his breath, and he can feel Minseok stop moving in front of him. He doesn’t dare look up. 

“I can’t. I work for you, Your Highness. I should know better,” he says quietly. “Please don’t make this hard. I’m doing my best to look out for you, protect you.”

“And that includes protecting me from you?” he asks. Minseok stares at him. 

“Yes,” he says in an exhale, as if it pains him. Baekhyun latches on to this, measly as it may be. 

He knows it’s a childish thing to say, but he says, “I’m old enough to make my own decisions. That includes who I put my trust in, and who I’m attracted to.”

“I know, Your Highness. I didn’t mean to imply that you’re not,” he says, and he’s blushing again, too endearing for a person who’d just more or less rejected him. “But I’m your Head of Security. There are boundaries that need to be kept. I’m sorry.”

Baekhyun stays quiet, and though he’s embarrassed and heartbroken and irritated, he knows Minseok is right. He sits back in his chair, looking down at his lap. His hair isn’t falling over his eyes despite his head hung low, and he remembers Minseok’s sister’s pin is in his hair. He makes no move to remove it. 

“Are you angry with me, Baekhyun?”

His voice is so soft, careful, and Baekhyun doesn’t want him to sound like that when he’s talking to him. But, he’s called him by his name, and he’s pleased but sad and everything is weird. 

“No, I’m not,” he says eventually, because he really isn’t and this doesn’t change how he feels about him. “I shouldn’t have done it like this. I’m sorry that I did it, but. I’m also not sorry that I did it? I don’t know if that makes sense, but. It was a wonderful few seconds.”

Minseok blushes, and Baekhyun shouldn’t latch on. He does anyway. “I’m sorry. It can’t happen again.”

“I know.”

“Please, please eat,” he says, cheeks still pink. “I didn’t make all that food only for it to go cold.”

Baekhyun does, for him. There’s a lull in their conversation, one that he finds he’s not used to, but it’s alright. He’s said before. He’s quite determined. 

.

Things are hellishly awkward between them, and Baekhyun is suffering. 

“So you  _ did  _ catch the feelings,” Chanyeol says, laying on his stomach on Baekhyun’s bed as he’s smashing at his phone’s screen to the beat of  _ Bad Boy.  _ He’s about to beat his previous score. 

“Changmin could have gotten him a job in the offices, anywhere, but  _ no,  _ it had to be in  _ security,  _ where there are more rules and more boundaries,” he huffs, then he feels bad immediately for talking shit. “Ah, sorry Changmin. Thank you for getting him a job here so I could meet him, even though it’s stupidly inconvenient.”

“Stop talking to air and talk to me,” Chanyeol says. He yells when he beats his score, and promptly attempts to do the same for  _ Gee.  _ He’s the worst. 

“You’re the  _ worst,”  _ he voices out for good measure, throwing his pillow at his cousin and Chanyeol’s face smashes onto his phone screen, making him yell. Baekhyun has little remorse. “I should have gone ahead to grad school. Then I wouldn’t be stuck with you and I wouldn’t be feeling so hopeless, like this.”

“What do you intend to do?” Chanyeol is asking him, rubbing his nose. “He has a point. He works for you, and this isn’t exactly smart. And Auntie, she won’t be happy about it, when she hears about this.”

“You don’t know that,” he says, and Chanyeol thumps him back with the pillow. 

“There are still rules,” he says, but he stops. “Baek. Do you like him? Like. You know what I mean.”

He does know what he means. “I just want to see him smile. And for him to do what he really wants,” he says, making a little face to himself. 

“Ah, shit. You really  _ really  _ like him,” Chanyeol says, gangly limbs a hazard as he tries to move hunting a more comfortable position. 

Baekhyun pauses, and. He hadn’t even realized, can’t remember how or why or when he’d felt  _ more.  _ But here he is, and. I makes sense.

“How’s he been around you since then?” Chanyeol asks him.

“Like. Really polite,” Baekhyun says, “Almost the way he was before. He’s avoiding the kitchen now. If I want food, he wakes up Jungsoo or one of the other staff.”

Chanyeol hits him again with the pillow. “No.  _ No.  _ My fried rice. Fix this.”

“He’s not  _ your  _ staff, Chanyeol,” Baekhyun squawks, pushing him away. “Even  _ I  _ don’t make him cook for me.”

“So he just  _ cooks  _ for you when he knows you’re hungry?  _ Unprompted?”  _ Chanyeol says, eyes wide and awestruck. “Baek, he’s definitely in love with you.”

“That’s, no, it’s not,” Baekhyun stammers, because that can’t be true. He’s blushing too much for nothing. “I don’t think he feels that way about me. And in any case, it will never happen. He’s not the reckless type.”

“Talk to him first, then,” he says, “you have to make things clear. Be honest with him. Or at least make the boundaries really rock solid so it doesn’t happen again.”

“Ah, that sounds like a chore,” Baekhyun says, and Chanyeol hits him with the pillow one more time, and Baekhyun kicks him off the bed in retaliation. He’s the worst, the worst of the worst. 

.

He’s jabbing at his phone aggressively because his cousin is still the worst, days later, because Minseok had cooked tuna mayo for  Chanyeol when he’d asked for some and Baekhyun  _ is not  _ jealous nor bitter and he really needs to beat Chanyeol’s high score at this stupid game. 

_ “‘Gee gee gee gee baby baby baby,’”  _ he huffs out angrily to the beat, pressing at his screen aggressively, and he can’t bring himself to be too pleased about all the  _ ‘Perfects!’  _ materializing on the display because he’s too busy being broody and ridiculous. He knows he’s being less than mature about this, and things would be a lot simpler if he’d talk to Minseok and clarify things between them, and he  _ will  _ get to it eventually. But first, he  _ will  _ beat Chanyeol’s score, even if he’ll never hear another song but  _ Gee  _ ever again. 

He’s just about to do it, almost to the end of the song, when his stupid nails get in the way and it’s downhill after that. The screen won’t read his fingers, his nails too long and he almost screams at his phone when his perfect score is gone. He throws his phone down at his bed, and stares at his hands. 

“You!  _ You!”  _ he shouts at his nails, “Why are you so long?!”

His phone lights up with several messages, all from Chanyeol, telling him to shut up in many different variations having heard him from his room, and he sticks his tongue out at it, before shutting it off haughtily. 

There's a knock on his door, and he’s not prepared at all to see Minseok peeking his head through it, his stupid handsome face and glasses perched carefully on his nose and gaze concerned. 

“Your Highness?” he says, coming in with a bit of hesitation, keeping the door open just in case. “Is everything alright? I heard you from my quarters, is. Is there anything you need?”

“I need to get a perfect score on  _ Gee  _ so I can shut Chanyeol up and hold this over his head forever,” Baekhyun says, still glaring at his phone. “But. My nails. I haven’t had the time to get them cut. I was so  _ close.” _

“I see,” Minseok blinks, and he looks at him, considering and thoughtful. 

“I’m sorry for the noise,” Baekhyun says, sighing as he tries to calm himself. “I know it’s late. I’ll keep it down. I really just.  _ Need  _ to beat the Giraffe’s score.”

“And how long will that take you?” he asks, and Baekhyun huffs, trying to seem nonchalant about him being in his room and looking the way he does and being so patient with him. 

“I don’t know, if my nails  _ would please cooperate,”  _ he glares at them, maybe trying to burn the excess of with his eyes. 

Minseok doesn’t say anything for a minute, then he’s saying quietly, “I. If you’d like, I can help with that. If it’s making you that uncomfortable.”

Baekhyun looks at him, surprised. “It’s. It’s okay. I know things are a little weird, but you don’t have to-“

“If it’s giving you discomfort, it’s part of my responsibility to try and provide you ways to relieve it,” he says, and he comes forward, shuffling a little. It’s a bit disconcerting, when he’s usually so sure with his movements, deliberate and sharp or soft but hardly hesitant. “Would you like me to cut them for you? Would that help?”

Baekhyun doesn’t know what to. It doesn’t help that he wants him close, closer than he has been the last few days. He doesn’t know the exact moment he’d felt  _ more.  _ But he doesn’t know how to avoid the emotion, at this point. 

“It would,” he says a little meekly, and Minseok nods, closing the door behind himself and stepping inside fully. “The nail cutter is by the mirror.”

Minseok nods again, and goes to fetch it, and Baekhyun’s brains is going all over the place. He sits up properly, crossing his legs the way he had many weeks ago when Minseok had first down this for him, and sits still as Minseok looks at him, the bed, his hands. 

“Please sit, Minseok,” he says, gesturing to the space in front of him. It takes a while, but Minseok eventually sits, copying his position and holding out his hands, asking wordlessly for him to let him inspect what he’s working with. 

It’s awkward, awkward as hell, but Baekhyun slides his hands into his palms, and he feels him hold a little tighter, touch gentle but still firm. 

“It’s not so bad,” Minseok says as he observes, and Baekhyun doesn’t say anything. “But I can see where it might bother you.”

“I was literally one chorus away from getting everything perfect,” he says, not meaning to mutter, but it comes out that way. “Ah. Shit. I’m sound like a brat. Again. I’m sorry.”

“It’s. It’s nothing I can’t handle,” Minseok says quietly, thumbing over his fingers gently. He’s always so kind. 

“But you still must get tired, dealing with me,” he says, feeling embarrassed and apologetic. “I’m sorry. I put you through a lot.”

“It really isn’t much,” he says, cutting his nails, attentive and diligent.

Baekhyun knows he’s not speaking much, more on purpose this time, because he doesn’t know how to approach the subject. The big ass elephant in the room that’s making even Baekhyun himself a little nervous, as well.

He tries, regardless. “About the other night. When I kissed you.”

“It’s alright, Your Highness,” he says, and his cheeks are pink. “It doesn’t have to be awkward, if you don’t want it to be.”

“That’s just it,” he says, “we  _ are  _ awkward. And I don’t know if me being honest with how I feel and why I did that would make things will make things better or worse.”

Minseok doesn’t say anything. Then he asks him, “What would you like to do?”

“It’s always about me, what I want, how I want to do things,” he says, his hands getting a little restless, but Minseok’s hold is firm, warm. 

“Because I work for you, Your Highness,” Minseok says, voice carefully controlled. “It’s. It’s how I’m supposed to do things.”

“Well. I want to know how  _ you  _ want to do things,” he says, and Minseok won’t look at him, just goes on cutting his nails. “I want to know what you’re thinking. I want to know how you feel.”

“Your Highness-”

“Because, I think I’ve made it clear, the way I feel about you,” he says, and it’s like a dam’s been opened. The filter is gone, and he’s being honest now, can’t quite stop himself. “I like you. I kissed you because it felt like the simplest way of expressing how I felt, and I see now how it may not have been the smartest thing to do, and I should have asked you first if you even wanted it. But I really, really liked kissing you.”

“You can’t,” Minseok says, sounding like he’s in despair. Baekhyun aches. “Your Highness. You can’t, not me.”

“Why not you?” Baekhyun says, and he knows why. It’s just the one, measly and, to him, unimportant, amongst the many reasons it  _ should  _ be him. “You’re kind. Too kind, and you’re thoughtful and intelligent, too intelligent to just be a bodyguard. You cook and you cut my nails even though I should do those things for myself and you take care of me and I’m sorry, that you don’t feel the same way about me. I just. I want to be honest, even if it’s hard.”

Minseok stops moving, stares at his hands, holding them tight. Baekhyun hadn’t even noticed that he had finished cutting his nails.

“I never said,” he begins to say quietly after several painfully silent minutes, “that I didn’t feel the same way.”

Baekhyun’s sure his heart drops to his stomach then slingshots back into his chest. His chest is pounding, and he blinks, several times, and he’s sure he’d misheard.

“Don’t. Don’t play with me,” Baekhyun says, and he’s gripping Minseok’s hands in his. 

“We cannot. But I don’t want you thinking it’s because I don’t feel the same way,” he says, and he’s looking now. His eyes are bright, genuine, emotional. Sincere. “You are under my care. I cannot forget that lest it interfere with how I do my job. But. You’re endearing. You’re wonderful, you’re honest and funny and you work hard. I think you are entirely lovely, and your smile and laugh. It’s a light.”

“Minseok,” Baekhyun tries, “Minnie.”

“We can’t,” he’s saying, sounding pained and devastated. 

“Do you really want that?” he asks him. “Do you really not want me?”

Minseok looks hurt. He doesn’t say anything for many minutes, and Baekhyun doesn’t mind waiting, but he’s scared of what he might say, what he might do. He wriggles his fingers in his hands, because he doesn’t know what else to do, and Minseok just holds on tighter.

Baekhyun doesn’t like the distance, and leans his forehead against Minseok’s. He doesn’t move away.

“This is too dramatic for a rejection,” Baekhyun says, trying to keep his voice light, smiling a little sadly. 

Then, Minseok kisses the corner of his mouth. Soft, fleeting. Baekhyun flies.

“You make it so hard. To stay away,” Minseok is saying, voice quiet. 

Baekhyun brings his hands up, cupping his face and kisses him properly, slanting his lips over his, and when he isn’t pushed away, but rather, pulled closer, he’s immediately calmed.

Minseok kisses him back, his hands holding his waist and bringing him closer, closer until Baekhyun is almost in his lap. He huffs a little, pulling away to climb on, straddle him properly, and Minseok glides his hands up his thighs, tilting his head up slightly and Baekhyun takes advantage of the angle, pressing down harder and kissing him deeply. 

“I’d prefer it a lot. If you don’t stay away,” he tells him, murmuring against his lips, and Minseok looks at him so intently, before his eyes flutter close and he leans up to kiss Baekhyun again, and his heart feels so  _ full  _ and lovely. “It would be a shame to not kiss you. Amongst other things.”

Minseok sighs, “You brat,” he says, finally saying it, and it’s so full of fondness, and Baekhyun shuffles closer, as close as he can, and kisses him. Minseok is sweet, and Baekhyun can almost feel him smile beneath him. 

Minseok reaches back, palming his ass, and Baekhyun pushes back against his touch, and is surprised further when Minseok licks into his mouth, gentle and tentative, but he latches on and kisses deeper, soft noises shared between them.

Baekhyun pulls away to breathe, nuzzling their noses together, and Minseok leaves a small kiss on his lips. 

“Baekhyun,” he says softly, tender and full of affection, and Baekhyun lights up from the inside. 

“I really like it when you say my name,” he says, and Minseok gives him a small smile. His eyes say everything, bright, fond, apprehensive, a little scared. It’s foreign on his face, but Baekhyun does his best to reassure him, wrapping his arms over his shoulders and asking him quietly, “Is this what you want?”

Minseok looks at him. His gaze turns intense, and he tells him, “I want  _ you.  _ But. This will be hard.”

“I’ve been told I’m hardheaded,” he says, and Minseok snorts. “Mostly by you.”

“This isn’t going to be much different, I suppose,” he says, and it’s said with a quiet bit of hope and a promise of more.

“And I’ll be all the happier for it,” he says, and Minseok’s grip tightens a little. 

“I hope so,” he says. 

He’s too nervous, and Baekhyun really doesn’t want him to be. He kisses him again, scrunching his fingers in his hair and pulling slightly. 

Minseok hums, opening his mouth and letting him slip his tongue against his and he holds him, grip strong and Baekhyun lets himself be held. One day, one day he’d like to pin Minseok under him and grip him and  _ hold him,  _ but now, he’s also very much content to let himself be cradled and pulled in so intimately, within his secure, really quite  _ built  _ arms. 

He gets on his knees, leaning up over Minseok, and brings his head back and angles his face up to look at him. There is an intensity in his gaze, but a softness that Baekhyun adores as well, and he brushes back his hair with his fingers, and kisses him, deep and breathing in as their mouths come together. 

It’s slow, a little wet, deeply satisfying, as they kiss and touch each other. Baekhyun sucks on his bottom lip and Minseok holds his bum more tightly, urging him forward, then his hands slide up, beneath his sleep shirt and touching his heated skin of his back. 

“Baekhyun,” he says quietly, touching the bed with one hand and he understands quickly enough, getting down on his side and bringing Minseok down with him, embracing him immediately and getting right back to it, attaching their lips again. 

Baekhyun likes kissing.  _ Loves  _ it with Minseok, who kisses simply but with his entirety, who’s generous with his hands and touches but respectful still, who is too considerate and follows his lead, slow and careful and tender and his chest is pounding in his chest. 

“You’re beautiful,” Minseok says against his cheek, voice soft and Baekhyun wants to sink in it, take every bit of him in, slow and for a long time. It’s a new feeling, particularly beautiful. 

“I’m blushing. Don’t stop,” he says, teasing, and Minseok smiles, snorting at him a little with a tiny roll of his eyes, pulling him in until they’re flush and Baekhyun runs his hands over as much as he can; his neck, his chest, down his back, his arms, and he’s so well defined and his proportions so nice and it’s evident he works hard. He’s infinitely attracted to him. 

He tucks his face into Minseok’s neck and latches on to his throat, licking and nipping and Minseok makes a soft, surprised noise, hands jerking on his butt and he pushes Baekhyun away gently, just enough to see each other properly. 

“Not there,” he murmurs, touching his face gently. Baekhyun leans into it as he continues softer still, “Not where they can see.”

“That really is a shame,” Baekhyun sighs, and he kisses him again, harder and out of the blue. Minseok makes a noise of surprise, but let’s him roll on top of him, kiss him until they both can’t feel heir lips and go on anyway, on and on for many minutes  until Minseok pats his bottom gently, pulling back and giving him the cutest apologetic look he’s ever seen. 

“I must go, Your Highness,” and Baekhyun doesn’t like many things about that sentence. He takes Minseok’s face in his hands and shakes his head, and Minseok sighs. “I really must go now,  _ Baekhyun.” _

“Better, but still awful,” he pouts, snuggling closer. “Don’t go. We. We don’t have to do anything else, I just want to hug you and kiss you a little bit more.”

“I really would like to,” he says, kissing him again, short and very sweet. “But I can’t be found here. You would get in a good deal of trouble. I don’t want any grief for you, because of me.”

Baekhyun looks at him, and it strikes him again, not for the first time, that Minseok is entirely too thoughtful and selfless, when it comes to him especially. Should they be found together, Baekhyun would get in a shitload of trouble, yes. But Minseok, he would  _ lose his job,  _ more likely than not, but he does not even think to mention it.

As Baekhyun is having his retrospective moment, Minseok is leaving a final kiss just between his eyebrows, climbing off the bed quietly. 

“You won’t give up on me now, won’t you? That’ll make me really sad,” Baekhyun says, actually really very scared that he’ll leave and never return like this, but he doesn’t want to reveal it too much, and chooses to keep his tone light, like a little tease, and keeps the smile of his face bright.

Minseok smiles, so so so gently, and says, “I’ll always strive to do what makes you happy and safe. You can be assured, Your Highness.”

Baekhyun throws his pillow at him, but he just catches it deftly in turn, laughing brightly and beautifully as he throws it back. “Then start by using my name when you talk to me!”

“Don’t worry, I’m very adaptable,” Minseok says, scrunching his face up, a tease. “Sleep well, Baekhyun.”

“I will!” he says, loud as if to prove a point, and Minseok gives him an exasperated snort and smile before he leaves the room quietly. 

Baekhyun sleeps very, very well that night. He’ll kiss Minseok in the morning to prove it.

.

Minseok is infuriatingly good at his job, not even letting Baekhyun’s pouting and puppy gaze break him down from keeping a professional stance throughout the day. 

He does not let Baekhyun kiss him the next morning, in fact, but he makes up for it that night, when he makes a curry and forces Baekhyun to brush his teeth after eating before they make out furiously and heavily in the massive store cupboard of the kitchen. It’s worth all the reorganizing they had to do after when they’d made a whole shelf of boxed cereals and other treats fall, but Baekhyun maintains that one had been Minseok’s fault; had he not licked across his clavicle the way he did, Baekhyun would not have flailed uselessly and grabbed at the shelf, only for his grip to be too strong and send everything down.

What they’re doing, what they have, is quiet and fire and light and easy but very hard, and no one should know about it. It’s only natural that Chanyeol find out some way, and when Minseok stares him down about it, Chanyeol spills easily and admits that he and Baekhyun had snuck into the drinks cupboard and too much was shared over century old single malt scotch whisky that almost made Baekhyun cry as he tried to down it, like fire down his throat. 

“He looked like he could kill me,” Chanyeol tried to defend himself later on, when it’s lights out in the Palace and Baekhyun has his phone hostage as a small bit of revenge. “It’s like he has this truth-telling gaze power? Like truth serum but with eyes? I couldn’t  _ not  _ tell him.”

“Why do Donghae and Hyukjae put up with you?” Baekhyun mutters, playing on his phone and missing as many beats as he can, on purpose. Chanyeol winces rather violently. “Chanyeol. You, you can’t tell anyone. Minseok, he’ll get fired, and I don’t want him to lose his job here. It could lead to his future.”

“Of course, that goes without saying,” he says, looking so earnest. If anything, Chanyeol is the personification of genuine. He fidgets a little, and Baekhyun doesn’t budge, keeps playing and losing deliberately. “Baek. Is this a serious thing?”

“You really think I would threaten you and steal your phone if it wasn’t?” he says, incredulous, and Chanyeol cowering is a funny sight. He thinks it will never get old. “I wouldn’t do that and risk all this for a little hook-up.”

“Minseok will really love being called little,” he says, yelling and flailing when Baekhyun tackles him. “Sorry, shit. You’re so fucking wily. I won’t say anything.”

“Not even to Kyungsoo?”

“No,” he says, blinking and confused. “But. How are you even going to do this, Baek? You can’t very well go out normally, and you have to be extra careful even around here. How do you plan on sweeping him off his feet?”

“His feet are very well swept off,” he says haughtily, and Chanyeol makes a face. “And I have plans.”

He tries, a few nights later, when he asks Minseok to bring him to a place he and his parents frequent when they have guests over. It's evident that Minseok doesn't know what he's trying to do, when they go in and when Baekhyun takes a seat at the table prepared in one of the private dining rooms and he takes his stance nearby, obviously to watch over him as he has dinner.

It takes Baekhyun, taking his hand and pulling him down to the seat across him, for him to realize that the dinner is  _ for him, _ as well. His eyes widen as he sits down, and he looks around them, watchful for who might see them and talk, and Baekhyun really doesn't want him to be so apprehensive. He keeps the bit of distance, just enough to give him ease, but stays close enough that he can see his eyes. 

“This place is private, you shouldn’t have to worry,” he tells him quietly, “No one will see.”

Minseok looks at him, considering. “So. It’s  _ that  _ kind of place.”

“What do you mean by that?” he asks, keeps smiling. 

“A place where discretion and confidentiality can be bought and added to the already high bill,” he raises an eyebrow. “I saw the wine list. Some of that is worth more than my salary.”

“Your pay is worth less than champagne? I’m gonna need to have a lot of words with mom,” he says, and Minseok rolls his eyes at him, but there’s a small smile in his face. “The food is good. You don’t have to worry about it.”

“I know. You wouldn’t bring me to a place you don’t like and don’t trust,” he says. 

“You do?” he blinks. 

“I know you well enough,” Minseok says, and Baekhyun is all heart eyes at him. 

Dinner goes well. The food is delicious, as it always is, and the conversation flows easily. Minseok roasts him a lot, and Baekhyun loves annoying him and it’s a good, good night, but he can tell that Minseok never lets himself relax completely, in the way he sits and the way he’s still careful with his words, with the way he touches him too fleetingly, never lingering.

He asks him about it later in the car, Minseok driving and Baekhyun in the passenger seat next to him, a seat he rarely ever takes, but it feels strangely very nice, Minseok being within reach, the hand not on the wheel finding a place on Baekhyun’s thigh.

He’s looking through his playlist to see what song to play through the speakers when he asks, “How’d you like dinner?”

“Dinner was good,” he answers, and it’s honest, but it’s obvious he’s holding back on his thoughts. Baekhyun plays with the hand resting on his leg, waiting for more, but Minseok doesn’t say much more, other than, “Thank you for bringing me there. It was a lovely first date.”

“First off, our first date was curry in the kitchen,” Baekhyun says matter of factly, and Minseok nods, relenting. “Now. I know you aren’t saying everything. It’s okay. Please be honest. You didn’t like it.”

“I didn’t say that,” he says, eyes on the road, “the food was very good, and my company was lovely. Didn’t stop talking, but I’m used to that by now.”

Baekhyun ignores the dig, revels in being called lovely, and asks him, “But you didn’t like it.”

“I liked it well enough. But I’m not used to that kind of place.”

“It wasn’t too much, was it? We didn’t even get any of the stuff with truffle-”

“Baekhyun, please, check your privilege,” Minseok says, and Baekhyun pauses. He feels a little embarrassed, but Minseok holds his thigh tighter. “I’m sorry. I know what you mean. I liked it. Anything with you will always be good.”

“But you still have your reservations,” he says, and Minseok’s expression tells him he’s right. 

“I didn’t particularly like the way the servers, the other diners when we passed by, the way they were looking at you,” he says, and Baekhyun ribs him.

“Jealous?”

“They sneered at you, almost,” he says, and Baekhyun blinks, he hadn’t even noticed. Minseok was very distracting. “Or me. They were, I don’t know. Maybe scandalized, that I was there sitting next to you.”

“So  _ they  _ were jealous,” he says, trying to lighten the mood, kissing his cheek. “Ignore them.”

“I don’t like it,” he says, sighing. “And this was already a more exclusive setting. What more if, if someone else. What if they saw you, with me, and assume? I don’t want them looking at you strangely just because of the company you keep.”

“My company is perfect, they can be as outraged as they want,” he says, but he gets it. “It’s alright. I understand.”

“Understand what?”

“The blatant display of wealth made you feel uncomfortable,” Baekhyun says. “And. Honestly, a place that sells drinks more expensive than what most people earn is a little gross.”

Minseok looks at him as they stop at a red light, and, to his delight, he’s leaning across to kiss him, soft then with a lot of tongue, his hand very close to where Baekhyun wants it, but he leans back with scary perfect timing as the light turns green, going with Baekhyun still dazed next to him.

“What was that for?” he asks, pleased but confused but still more pleased.

“I truly wish you were the one in line for the throne and not your brother,” he sighs under his breath. Then he straightens up a bit, laser-focused, and Baekhyun can’t even revel in his praise before he says, “Don’t tell anyone I said that.”

“I can’t wait until you rattle more cages in the places that need you,” Baekhyun says, and Minseok snorts, and he wants more more more, wants everything.

He tries again a few days later, when his schedule is a little bit more punishing, 

and it’s a late in the evening, later than usual, and they really should be getting back to the Palace, but Baekhyun is persistent, asks if they could pass through the route that runs along the river.

Minseok raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything of the choice, maneuvers the car promptly, and it’s late enough that there aren’t many places left open, not many people out on the streets. 

“Ah, here, here,” Baekhyun points, and Minseok blinks, staring, then looking back at him. 

He doesn’t say anything as he parks, and Baekhyun walks ahead of him, keeping the door open as he keeps looking around, very confused. 

“Get what you want,” Baekhyun says, and he’s already walking towards the aisle of ramyeon packets, looking through the brands they have available. 

“A. Convenience store?” he says, and Baekhyun grins at him. 

“Not just any convenience store,” he says, “the same one you brought me to.”

Minseok looks at him for a long while, and Baekhyun just keeps smiling, beaming, hoping he’d done right, but afraid that he hadn’t, but he doesn’t show it. 

“Makes you want to kiss me, hmm?” he says, joking a little, but Minseok’s stare is steady.

“A little bit, yes,” he says seriously, and Baekhyun drops the packs he’d been holding, surprised, very relieved, ultimately pleased.

They end up just choosing the noodles, some cheese and eggs, and a few bottles of tea, and it’s empty out in the outdoor area where the hot water and tables are. They make their ramyeon together, bumping hips and Baekhyun chatters on happily as they wait for the noodles and egg to cook and the cheese to melt, and then they’re sitting on the table farthest from the light. 

“Do you like this?” Baekhyun asks him. “I thought this might be more comfortable for you.”

“It is,” Minseok tells him, and the smile on his face is so soft. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,  _ honey,”  _ he grins, and Minseok makes a face. “Ah, I’ll warm you up to a pet name soon enough.”

“No.”

“Is  _ darling  _ any better?”

“It really isn’t.”

“Well, you can call me anything not formal, so get creative,” he says. “I’m even partial to  _ brat,  _ I’m very adaptable.”

“I can barely get used to calling you by your name, so don’t get too hopeful for something sweet,” he says. He pauses, staring at his soup and moving the noodles around with his chopsticks aimlessly, and even with the lack of light, Baekhyun can see the flush on his complexion. “Still trying to wrap my head around you being like this with me, so.”

He’s immediately so achingly endearing and Baekhyun risks taking his face in his hands and kissing him, too quick, and Minseok blushes further.

“You  _ can’t  _ do that in public, Baekhyun.”

“You’re so hopelessly cute,” he says, and Minseok hides his face, no doubt red all over, and Baekhyun bounces in his seat, endlessly happy.

They spend close to three hours in their spot a several feet away from the streetlamp, slurping noodles and soup and talking quietly about everything, and it’s a calm and content little slice of heaven that Baekhyun’s not quite experienced before, and even cleaning up is a little joy, as he ribs Minseok for his strict cleaning tendencies and when they’re walking back to the car, he even braves holding his hand. It’s another little joy, that Minseok lets him.

.

He can’t find Minseok anywhere, and he goes around the Palace in circles, until Kyungsoo gets tired of watching him go around like a lost puppy and asks him as he passes by the offices a fourth time, “What is it you need, Your Highness?”

“Where’s Minseok?” he asks, and Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. “I want cup rice and I can’t go out without him.” He doesn’t add that it’s a date and he’d wanted to introduce Minseok to the magic little meals Donghee whipped up.

“Why don’t you ask the kitchen staff to make you some?”

“Soo, please, I’m getting cabin fever here,” he pouts, and Kyungsoo doesn’t relent still.

“And why do you think I’d know where he is?”

“Because you always know where I am, how’s he any different from me?”

Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything for many minutes. Then, he huffs, saying, “Try the gym.”

And it figures he’s actually in the one place in the Palace that Baekhyun doesn’t really frequent, and when he comes in to the room to look for him, lifting weights and sweating and all Baekhyun is thinking is  _ arms thighs arms thighs oh chest- _

“I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” he says, voice coming out a little strangled, and Minseok looks over to him, and drops the weights, removing his earphones.

“You’re up early,” he says, and Baekhyun tries valiantly to keep his eyes on his face, but the muscle shirt he’s wearing is soaked through and is clinging to his skin and Baekhyun’s always thought he was hot, but now that he’s kind of allowed to thirst a little more openly, it’s a big ask to not want to touch him.

“You work out?” Baekhyun blinks, and really, it should obvious, with Minseok’s job and everything, but he still finds himself a little surprised. Minseok tilts his head curiously at him.

“I need to,” he says, before taking a long swig from his jug and Baekhyun just. Stares at his neck as he gulps everything down. “I need to be active to be good at my job. And, with all the eating I’ve been doing with you, I need to work harder to maintain myself.”

Baekhyun frowns immediately. “No you don’t. You’re hot every way, you don’t need to lose anything.”

“That’s very well for you to say, you’re gorgeous,” Minseok says, and he’s flushed all over again. “I need to keep up with you.”

He frowns again, and he disagrees a lot, doesn’t want him thinking this way when it’s not right at all. “No, you don’t. You’ve watched me wolf down platefuls of rice and noodles, there’s nothing to catch up to, and I like you every which way. Don’t feel insecure around me, you’re perfect.  _ Baby.” _

“Gross,” Minseok sighs at the pet name, but he looks more relaxed. “Okay. I’ll, I will try. And please don’t stop eating healthily too. Your cheeks, they are a national treasure.”

“Ah, you always know how to make me blush, I’ll keep you,” Baekhyun says, really overwhelmed with the fact that there doesn’t seem to be any irony in his voice and he copes by being flirty in return. It doesn’t quite help how  _ hot  _ he feels, just looking at Minseok making him sweat a little and there’s an itch he feels all over, annoying and making his mouth dry.

It gets so much worse, when Minseok takes off his shirt and  _ holy shit  _ Baekhyun kind of wants to lick him.

“Do they have security cameras here?” he asks.

“Yes, of course,” Minseok replies.

“That’s a shame. I want to make out with you,” he says, and Minseok fumbles a little.

_ “Baekhyun.” _

“I know, I know,” he sighs. He pauses. “Do the lockers have cameras?”

“No, there isn’t any, but you really shouldn’t be getting ideas,” he tells him, but the redness of his face is betraying his straightlaced ness, and really,  _ he’s  _ the treasure. 

It’s really too late, for him to not get ideas, but he keeps a respectful distance as they head in there together, and he really does mean to wait patiently on the benches as he goes to shower, but Minseok is taking off his pants so he’s left in his really skintight shorts and he’s only so strong. 

“You’re making it hard  _ for me  _ to not want to dirty stuff with you,” he says, and Minseok is naked enough for him to see every part of him get a deep flush of red. 

“You brat,” he says, voice strained. “I’m trying not to get you in trouble.”

“I said it myself,” he says, and he goes to lock the door, steps slow and questioning, keeping his eyes on Minseok, for any  _ no  _ that would come out of his mouth. “I’m really quite hardheaded. A  _ royal-“ _

“Don’t say it.”

_ “-Pain  _ in the ass,” he grins, and Minseok groans, before reeling him in and kissing him hard. 

Baekhyun hums, pleased, then it gets a little feral. Minseok is licking into his mouth, touching him everywhere, and Baekhyun clings on, making a surprised noise when they move and his back is against the lockers. He gets his hands on Minseok’s skin, feeling his ridiculous back, his perfect arms, every slow rise of his muscle and ridges between under his fingertips a little something perfect. 

“You’re too much, you brat,” Minseok says, and then he’s trailing his lips down his jaw, then lingering on his neck, licking and nipping, breathing him in and leaving his mark on him. 

Baekhyun whines as quietly as he can manage, tucking his face into Minseok’s neck and wrapping his arms around his waist, trying his best to stay grounded. 

“Ah,  _ ah,” _ he moans, and Minseok bites gently at his lip, sucking it into his mouth and Baekhyun feels his entire body tremble, the spots where Minseok’s lips touch his skin tingle and ache for more attention.

“This place isn’t soundproof,” Minseok hums, kissing the corner of his mouth, and Baekhyun just wants to melt into his voice, with how deep and hot it is. “You’re going to have to be more quiet.”

“Impossible, when you’re doing that,” Baekhyun gasps, reaching back and getting his fingers in Minseok’s hair and pulling. 

“Doing what?”

_ “All of that,”  _ he whimpers, and Minseok’s hands are slipping under his shirt, and Baekhyun's skin feels like it’s on fire. “I have many filthy thoughts.”

“Need any help?” Minseok asks, and Baekhyun is effectively gobsmacked, not at all expecting Minseok to offer so prettily and generously and meltingly, and he stares at him, jaw dropped, and Minseok chuckles, kissing his nose. “I guess not-”

“Minnie!  _ Minnie,  _ please don’t deny me the heavenly pleasures of your hand on my dick,” he whines, not even caring that Minseok laughs quietly at him, because he’s being kissed so lushly, and there’s a hand palming the front of his pants, and it’s not his own, and that alone is making him shake a little. 

“Is this okay?” he asks, and Baekhyun makes him groan with the way he pulls at his hair on instinct.

“Would be a lot better if,” he starts, taking Minseok’s hand and guiding it inside his pants, and they grip his half-hard dick together, and he moans, the rest of his sentence said breathily, “if you did that.”

“Alright,” Minseok kisses him sweetly, and he reaches in properly, his fingers sure and so obviously knowing what he’s doing. He keeps Baekhyun pinned to the wall, kissing and kissing him, hand on his waist as the other strokes him, motions deliberate, tracing the veins and teasing the head, and he’s fully hard in almost no time at all.

“Oh,  _ oh, fuck,”  _ Baekhyun whines, his head lolling forward and finding reprieve on Minseok’s broad, hard shoulder, breathing in his sweat and heat as he’s given the most considerate and lovely and perfect handjob of his life. Minseok somehow just  _ knows  _ where to swipe, how to get him panting and how to get his cock so fucking hard and his balls ache and his belly just  _ swirl  _ with the need to let go.

Minseok must feel it, because he slows his pace, getting his lips on Baekhyun’s and saying against his mouth, “What a shame. I really would have liked the opportunity to fuck you properly.”

Baekhyun’s mind just about explodes, and he says breathily, “Then do it.”

“I refuse to do so here, it’s not fitting enough for you,” he says, and Baekhyun smashes their faces together, full on making out, lots of tongue, and he fucks his hips forward into Minseok’s now slack hand. 

Minseok tightens his fist again, and kisses him back, and his hand pulls him off in a pace sent from heaven. “I want to watch you come.”

“Okay,” Baekhyun murmurs, voice getting very breathy and high as he’s melting. “Then we’re going to my room and you’re going to fuck me into my mattress and maybe shut my whining and screaming up with your dick in my mouth.”

_ “Okay,”  _ he groans, swiping his thumb over the tip and Baekhyun is so, so,  _ so close.  _ “How graphic. We musn’t scar Chanyeol for life with your screams.”

“Please, he’s put me through worse,” Baekhyun mutters, moaning and not bothering to keep his voice down when he comes in his pants, Minseok slowing as he comes down. He holds him up just as he feels his knees just about give, and tucks Baekhyun against his body, steady and anchoring, and Baekhyun breathes, breathes slow as he rest his head on Minseok’s shoulder, taking it all in.

“Are you alright?” he’s asked, and he answers wordlessly, choosing instead to kiss him. He mostly misses, lips landing instead on his chin, and Minseok smiles gently, moves down to match up their mouths and he hums into the softness of him. “You’re particularly beautiful.”

“Thanks,” he says rather dismally, wishing he were wittier as he usually is, but his brain is rather slow this morning. “I was sort of promised your dick. Was that a sex promise? Or a thing that’s going to happen?”

“What would you like, Your Highness?”

Baekhyun glares, and kisses him extra hard. “I refuse to be addressed so formally when you’ve just made my brain melt. I obviously want to be fucked. By you, preferably. Only. You, only. Ah, fuck.”

Minseok smiles so warmly at him for all his trouble, kisses his jaw and cuddles him against the wall. For as much as he does want to get nailed, this is. Really, really nice, soft and lovely and Baekhyun blinks as Minseok, muscle and power and sweat and truth serum eyes Minseok, holds him so carefully, gently, affection on his skin like sweat and Baekhyun leans his head against his, taking a little moment. 

“Let me shower first.”

“No, you’re just going to get sweaty again,” Baekhyun mumbles, just a little bit away from koala-ing him. “I have a better idea. We fuck, then take the shower  _ with me.  _ Amazing.”

Minseok sighs, but his national treasure cheek is kissed long and slow, and pulls Baekhyun close, so close that he feels the hard length confined in his shorts against his thigh, and Baekhyun shivers with want.

“You make it very hard for me,” Minseok says, kissing him again, and their hands go everywhere. “You must keep quiet.”

“Will do,  _ sweetie,” _ and Minseok glares at him very hard. It’s so hot.

They make it back to his room without much incident, Minseok staying a few feet behind, mindful of the cameras in the halls, and once they’re in his room, Baekhyun slams the door close and pins him to it, grabbing at his face and kissing him and getting his tongue in his mouth.

Minseok responds in kind, hands gliding down and squeezing his ass and he more or less carries them to the bed, crashing back and he climbs on top of Baekhyun, his weight assuring and rounding above him. Baekhyun can't stop staring at him, the heave of his chest or the redness of his lips or the disarrayed state of his hair or the shine of his skin. He’s a dream and Baekhyun wants him all the time.

Minseok’s mouth never leaves his skin, even as he’s removing their clothing, piece by piece, hands slightly tickling his sides as he slides his shirt off his torso, his tongue leaving sticky trails down his chest, biting and licking his nipples and Baekhyun tries not to writhe too much under him, but he’s never prided himself in staying still. His whole self shivers under Minseok’s lips and tongue, as he trails down his stomach, leaving marks on his hips as he pushes down his bottoms, and Baekhyun is naked under him, spent cock already half-hard again. Minseok seems intent on either teasing or worshipping him, tracing the lines of his stomach with his tongue and feeling him up, every inch of him.

“You’re gorgeous,” Minseok says, and Baekhyun shakes his head, makes grabby hands for him. He follows well, settling back on top of him, but Baekhyun doesn’t kiss him just yet. Pulls down his shorts, and his hard cock springs up and Baekhyun’s chest pounds and his mouth waters and he’s ready to have it inside him. 

Minseok aligns their hips, and the slide of his cock against his makes Baekhyun moan, the touch dry but not unbearable, and it gets  _ amazing,  _ when Minseok rolls his hips slowly, grinding down on top of him, and he does it again, and again, until their pace is steady and slow and Baekhyun’s cock spurts a little at the end, wanting more.

It’s like he’s sinking into the mattress, and his moans are high and whiny as they grind together, getting louder when Minseok holds his thigh and lifts it slightly to lock around his waist, exposing him more and Baekhyun is going a little crazy with how much more he needs.

“Minnie, baby, please,” he whines, hands on his neck and pulling him in close. “Please, please, please.”

He’s kissed, so gently and silkily and wetly and Baekhyun is trying not to combust but he won’t deny he loves his tongue on his. “Where are your-”

He doesn’t finish his sentence, because Baekhyun is pointing in the direction of his nightstand, and he’s attempting to wriggle up the bed to get it himself. Minseok chuckles quietly, calming him with a simple kiss.

“Why are you in such a rush, the day’s just starting. We have time.”

Baekhyun is so unused to this sweetness, and he blushes from the attention. Minseok smiles, seeing the expression on his face and he kisses him again gently, before reaching over to get what they need. 

Baekhyun blinks when he brings out the lube, almost completely depleted, and the last in a long strip of condoms, and he turns even redder, a little. Not quite ashamed, but feeling the need to say, “Um. I didn’t, um. I can explain.”

“Explain what?” Minseok looks confused, settling on top of him again.

“Why that’s all that’s left in there,” he says, quiet, and it doesn’t take Minseok even a few moments before he understands. 

“It doesn’t matter,” he says gently, brushing their noses together, but Baekhyun can’t help the need to say something. 

“Well, obviously you know about. Yeah, since you’re the one who drives them back,” Baekhyun rambles, and Minseok looks at him patiently. “And, I know it doesn’t matter that I sleep around, I do. But. For you, I just. I just want, it’s just-”

“It’s okay,” Minseok tells him, gentler still, cupping his face in his hands, and Baekhyun feels a lump in his throat, clogging his words. Feels it extend down to his chest, making it feel stretched too thin and tight, but it’s not painful, as it is. Full. “It’s okay. I know, and it doesn’t matter to me. It shouldn’t matter anyway. It doesn’t change how I feel about you.”

Baekhyun swallows his heart down, and tries to calm himself, meeting Minseok’s gaze. “Is what you feel for me. A good thing?”

Minseok smiles slowly, kissing him softly. “May be the best thing.”

And if that doesn’t make Baekhyun’s heart soar. 

He clings on as Minseok gets his fingers slick, reaching down and opens him up carefully, and it’s slow still, but it’s bitingly good. His legs shake as he’s fingered, so thorough he’s falling apart even before the third finger is inside him, and he has to hold himself back, squeezing around the base of his cock as fingers stroke inside him, stretching him.

“Oh,  _ oh,  _ that. Fuck,” Baekhyun finds that he’s always losing some of his words with Minseok, and he doesn’t mind it so much in this context. He spreads his legs, his ass twitching around the fingers Minseok is pushing inside him, and Minseok leans down to suck at a nipple, and Baekhyun has to bite his fist not to be so loud. “Fuck me,  _ fuck me-” _

“Yes,” Minseok says, voice a little less controlled and Baekhyun slides a condom down on him, and his dick is  _ so nice,  _ thick and he has no doubt in his mind that Minseok knows how to use it.

Minseok’s slicked up cock prods at his hole, and Baekhyun has to bite down on Minseok’s bicep as he impales him, the stretch splitting him open and it’s good and a lot. Minseok pets his hip as he pushes in, stopping when he’s all the way in and Baekhyun takes several deep breaths.

“You’re so thick,” he exhales, his hole twitching around his cock and making Minseok groan. “Oh, fuck. Fuck me.”

“Yes,  _ yes,”  _ Minseok kisses him again, and he follows beautifully. Pulling out, and fucking back in  _ hard,  _ hard enough that his balls slap against Baekhyun’s ass, and they both moan, struggling to keep their voices down. 

Minseok’s pace isn’t quite fast, but it’s hard, pounding as he rolls his hips and his cock plunging into Baekhyun’s ass and making him so full, everywhere. He fucks like a dream, like the morning, quiet and bright and his cock feels so  _ nice  _ inside him, and Baekhyun can’t stop moaning, nails biting into Minseok’s skin with each thrust forward and it’s so, so hot between them. 

“Fuck, you feel so good,” he gasps as Minseok shoves in particularly hard, and Baekhyun’s cock bounces on his belly from the force of it.

“You’re. You’re so tight, so beautiful,” Minseok breathes, fucking him a little faster, and it’s still careful, but it’s a wonderful punch of pleasure each time his cock pounds inside.

“Need, need you to come,” Baekhyun pants, chest heaving and he clings on to him, wrapping his arms around Minseok’s shoulders and his legs parting even wider for him, and he wants it so much. Wants to see his face when he does, wants to give him everything. “Please, please, please. Faster-”

“Always in such a rush,” Minseok tsks, but he’s smiling then gasping as he fucks him and Baekhyun tightens his ass around his cock, and he goes harder, faster, thrusting in and Baekhyun is pushed up the mattress, sinking into the sheets. He’s fucked hard, so hard that his head would hit the headboard, had Minseok not reach out and held his palm against it, holding them back from being shoved up. His strength is hot as hell, and Baekhyun shakes beneath him, overwhelmed.

Minseok must be close, because in a flash, he’s gripping his hips tightly, and Baekhyun yelps as Minseok lifts him up, getting on his knees and fucking him that way, his ass in the air and his back arched as Minseok’s cock plows into him, ramming in and filling him up.

_ “Oh, oh fuck,”  _ he’s gasping, head thrashing around on the pillow and his hands trying to find purchase on his sheets, and Minseok fucks him with perfect thrusts in, filling him up.

“I, I don’t think I can last my longer,” Minseok says on a breath, and thank fuck, because neither can Baekhyun. 

“Do it, come in me,” he says, and Minseok goes even harder, even faster, and Baekhyun is so overwhelmed by sensation and pleasure, his own cock hard and bouncing and he can’t bear being so far from Minseok. 

He tries to reach for him, but his limbs don’t seem to want to cooperate with him, and it ends up just looking like a lot of flailing. Minseok sees him, though, and leans down to kiss him, keeping his grip strong and their bodies arched into each other as he grinds in. Baekhyun snakes his arms around his neck and kisses back, opening his mouth and licking him, and Minseok rolls his hips, languid and like liquid.

He’s murmuring sweet little things in Minseok’s ears, and clenches his ass around his cock the next thrust in, and it does it. Minseok gasps as he comes, quiet as he wrings it out with minute thrusts into his with no real rhythm but no less perfect, and Baekhyun holds on as he does, biting his ear and sliding his fingers down his arms, feeling really, really good.

“Oh,  _ fuck,”  _ Minseok breathes, and it’s the first time Baekhyun’s heard him curse. It sends something hot down his spine. “Let me take care of you now. Trust me?”

“I do with everything, don’t I?” he tries to tease, but he knows his voice is too breathy and it’s good enough, anyway, it doesn’t matter, because Minseok is crawling down and licking a stripe along his dick and Baekhyun just about combusts. 

Minseok kisses the tip of his cock, taking the head into his mouth and Baekhyun moans, pants, and he gets his hands in his hair, pulling and Minseok goes down on him, taking him into his mouth and he’s so unfairly good with it. He bobs his head and Baekhyun was already close a minute earlier, and it barely takes seconds. Minseok sucks on the head and he tries to warn him, but he comes, long and hard and he whines as he spills in his mouth.

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” he tries to say, but Minseok just wipes his mouth casually, thumbing near his lips and sucking in it. Baekhyun’s brain melts.

Minseok comes up, settles silently on top of him, kisses him, simple and quiet. He kisses and kisses, lips soft against his own, and Baekhyun sinks back into his bed, letting Minseok cuddle him, and. He feels safe, taken care of, the weight above him comforting, and Minseok’s hands tracing circles on his waist as he kisses down his jaw lulls him into a softness he’s not quite used to, but can’t get enough of. 

“Hmmm,” he hums quietly, closing his eyes as Minseok’s lips skim over his face lightly, over his lips, cheeks, forehead, eyelids, nose. Every inch of him kissed gently, and he sinks into it, touching Minseok’s sides and under his arm, to curl over his back and bring him even closer, and he feels like the morning. Soft and bright and full of promise.

He opens his eyes, just a bit, and Minseok is already looking at him, quiet smile on his face as he brushes Baekhyun’s own hair from his face, and. It’s completely cliched, how lovely he thinks the light of the morning shining through the curtains looks on his face, making him glow, but. 

He’s beautiful. 

.

He discovers that Minseok is just as beautiful  _ under  _ him, gasping as he comes and squeezes delicously around his cock, skin slick under his lips as Baekhyun comes in the condom, and they’re both breathing hard into each other’s mouths as they come down. 

“Are you okay?” he asks, and Minseok hums his confirmation, leaning up to kiss the corner of his mouth, and Baekhyun pulls out, wincing with him, making quick work of tying off the condom and cleaning him up, and cuddling up to him, drawing the blankets up to their chins. “Ah, fuck, your room is so cold.”

“I tend to sweat a lot,” he says, but he’s shivering as well, and he’s so cute. Baekhyun snuggles him, and he bites out, “Honestly? My air conditioning is broken, so the temperature won’t get any higher.”

“Have the technician look it over,” Baekhyun says, and Minsek hums again, stealing his warmth. “Or just sleep in my room forever.”

“No,” he says. Baekhyun pouts. “I can’t imagine being in the same room with you, reading and taking down notes, while you sing along passive aggressively to all those songs while trying to beat your cousin’s high scores.”

“Objection,” he whines, but Minseok just smiles, petting his butt under the covers. “What are you reading about now?”

“Sexism and misogyny,” he answers, “we’re particularly bad with treating women fairly here, even though we may praise them and objectify them on our screens.”

“Hmm,” Baekhyun says, leaning their head together. “Send me a copy of your notes. I know mom would like to see some of your insights.”

“Ah, she would not, but I’ll email it to you,” he says, “but I’ll refer you to Joohyun, she’d be more adept to any of your queries.”

“She sounds terrifying.”

“You should be scared of her, she’d crush you,” Minseok sighs, curling into him and it’s cold but it’s warm between them and Baekhyun never wants to move, so he whines when he says, “I have to get to work.”

_ “I’m  _ work, and I’m saying stay here,” he pouts, and Minseok gives him a little look. 

“I’ve been instructed to bring around a few new security detail members,” he says, and at least he doesn’t look too pleased about the arrangement, either. “It will take a few hours.”

“Kyungsoo  _ sucks,”  _ Baekhyun whines again, wrapping himself around Minseok in an attempt to keep him in bed, tucking his face into his neck and mumbling, “Make him make Hyukjae do it.”

“I value my life, Baekhyun,” he replies, slowly, reluctantly extracting himself from his embrace, and getting up from the bed, moving to get dressed. 

Baekhyun watches him with a pout, but he doesn’t try to stop him. Watches as his back muscles move along as he pulls on his pants and his arms slide through his shirt and jacket, and it doesn’t get old, how attractive and hot he is. 

“I’m going to be a bit early,” he says, looking at his watch. 

“Great, cuddle with me with the extra time you have,” Baekhyun says, more or less orders.

Minseok just chuckles, leaning down and lifting Baekhyun’s chin up with a few fingers, and leaving a small kiss on his mouth. Baekhyun frowns, but he’s not swayed, saying, “I need to report to Junmyeon first. I’ll be done in a few hours. Will I see you in you in your room?”

“No, I’m going to freeze on my own here,” Baekhyun says dryly, and Minseok gives him a look. “You’ll see, you’re gonna come back here and give me those cuddles-”

“I’ll meet you for lunch in the kitchens,” he just says, waving a little as he leaves the room, closing the door behind himself.

Baekhyun pouts at the door, and flops back on the bed, gathering the blankets around himself because  _ shit it’s cold, _ and he supposes he should get back to his own room and maybe think of ways on how to spend his schedule-free day. He thinks of the spot near the river, and is already planning what food he’s going to buy from the store. 

It’s a few minutes of silence, the hum of the air conditioning loud and Baekhyun can almost see the wind blowing out from the vents with how strong it seems to be, and he’s too cold and he really wants a Minseok-sized pillow to cuddle and squeeze and maybe poke a little.

It’s then that the doorknob is turning, and he smiles, wrapping the blankets around him and sitting up to see Minseok come in. “I told you you’d be coming back-”

His words die in his throat when Kyungsoo steps in. It’s much worse when he realizes Kyungsoo doesn’t look surprised at all to see him in there.

“K-Kyungsoo,” he stammers, feeling very naked and trying to cover as much as he can with Minseok’s sheets, and he supposes this doesn’t help the situation at all, and Kyungsoo closes the door behind himself, locking it decisively. Baekhyun gulps. “Fancy meeting you here?”

“With the many stupid things you’ve done, Your Highness, I didn’t think it would be possible to be surprised by you anymore,” he says, and he doesn’t look the least bit surprised. His face tries to be blank, but Baekhyun can see the disappointment and worry that tries to hide itself. His heart drops. “I’m not very pleased to be wrong.”

“Kyungsoo-“

“He’s your  _ Head of Security,  _ Your Highness,” he says, “you can’t do this. You’re jeopardizing yourself, and him. His livelihood, his reputation, this is just about the most stupid thing you could have done.”

“Makes you miss the jokes, huh?” Baekhyun tries, smiling it off, but he’s hurt. Minseok and him, it’s the furthest thing from stupkid, and he doesn’t like Kyungsoo a lot for implying that it is. 

“Your Highness,” he says, implores, “I can’t emphasize enough just how unwise this is. He’s your  _ bodyguard.” _

Baekhyun bristles, because his tone is less than kind. “Just because he’s a bodyguard, doesn’t mean you can look down on him-”

“Jesus, I’m not looking down on him,” Kyungsoo says, and he sounds like he’s in a bit of despair. “It’s not to say he is not intelligent or worthy. Everyone working in the Palace knows he’s smarter than most of the advisors in your parent’s council. But he works for you, he  _ has  _ to be detached to do his job properly. There are rules, he has rules, and so do you.”

Baekhyun doesn’t say anything. He can’t even really feel the cold of the room anymore. “How’d you find out?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Kyungsoo says, and Baekhyun thinks of how he just happens to know everything that happens in the Palace. His heart drops, because. Kyungsoo must know much more than he lets on.

“And you just thought that I would be here?”

“I had my fears,” Kyungsoo says, and it doesn’t sit well with him.

“So you gave Minseok work  _ away from me  _ on purpose? So you can confront me?” he says, sniffing a little. He didn’t even realize he was that cold. Or was that close to tears. “Are the new security even real? Do they exist?”

“Yes, they do,” Kyungsoo says, “I just assigned Minseok to do it. Your Highness, I care greatly for both of you, and I needed to tell you that you can’t do this with there being repercussions. I needed to get you away from him, and that doesn’t happen a lot, these days.”

“You’re going to force me to be dramatic, and I hate big declarations, you know this,” Baekhyun says, his chest so full of worry and emotion and affection and fondness for Minseok, “but. He’s important. He’s one of the few things I wake up looking forward to. I know you’re trying to look out for me, but. He’s. He-”

And Baekhyun never usually misses his words. Is never overwhelmed with emotion, but here he is. He’s frozen, when he realizes he’s so overcome, and his eyes well up, and he doesn’t want Kyungsoo to see him this way.

“Please don’t take him away from me,” he ends up pleading quietly. He’s shaking a little.

Kyungsoo looks torn in front of him. Baekhyun knows that he’s not cruel, is strict because he needs to be, but Kyungsoo is so, so kind. Always doing his best to understand him, and do what’s best for him.

“Your Highness, I can’t protect you, if they find out,” he says, looking a little heartbroken because he can’t. 

“You don’t need to,” Baekhyun tells him, “I’ll do my best. I’ll take care of it, I promise, no one will find out-“

“You can’t live like that, Your Highness,” he says. “That’s not fair to Minseok either. You can’t hide forever.”

“I’ll tell them,” he says, pleading and pleading. “I’ll tell them, just. It needs to be me, I’ll tell them. Give me time. Please, please don’t take him away, please.”

Kyungsoo looks long and hard at him, and Baekhyun’s never been scared of him before, but now. He’s scared all he’ll hear is,  _ ‘no.’ _

“You must tell your parents, Your Highness,” he says, and he’s serious. “If things go wrong-”

“They won’t,” Baekhyun says, “they won’t, I promise. Thank you, Soo.”

“Please be careful, Baekhyun,” he says, and Baekhyun knows he means it, He wouldn’t drop the formality and call him by his real name if it weren’t.

.

Baekhyun takes his words to heart. No more hooking up in the semi-public areas of the Palace, and he’s extra careful with how he touches Minseok, where and when and he’s a little bit on edge, but Minseok calms him a little. Never questioning the change, but moving along with it, comforting him and he’s really Baekhyun’s perfect man. Before they know it, one week bleeds into another, then it bleeds into a month, and in the next week, it will be three months. 

What doesn’t really change is their little comfort meals, whether they have it in the kitchen, sometimes Chanyeol barging in and eating two thirds of the plate, or in their rooms. 

Tonight, it’s cheesy egg rice with sausages, curled up together in Baekhyun’s room, Minseok reading a book he’d borrowed from the Palace library while feeding Baekhyun bites between attempts at besting his previous scores on his phone.

_ “Bet you wanna, bet you wanna dance like this,”  _ he goes along with the beat, tapping his fingers a little too violently on his screen and bopping his head along, wriggling down to lay on his belly and swinging his feet in the air behind him. 

“You’re going to break your screen at this point,” Minseok says calmly, pushing his glasses up his nose and turning the page, leaning back on the headboard and tangling one of his legs with Baekhyun’s. “You’re attacking it for no reason.”

“This is nothing compared to Chanyeol,” he mutters, yelling when the screen doesn’t recognize his finger’s pressure and misses the stupid tail at the end of a yellow trail and his perfect score goes down the drain. “Yah!  _ Yah!  _ I moved my finger, why didn’t you get it!”

“There, there,” Minseok says dryly, writing a note on his pad and patting Baekhyun’s butt with the other.

“I was about to get into the top five of the week,” he pouts, “if it weren’t for the golden trail of failure.”

“You already beat your score, you should be proud of yourself,” Minseok tells him, and Baekhyun pouts at him. “You can always try again.”

“I was so  _ close,”  _  he mourns, and Minseok snorts, going back to his book. 

Baekhyun loses interest in the game, and turns his attention to Minseok, who’s infinitely more intriguing anyway, and he flails around, trying to sit back up and he lays on his chest to get comfortable. “What’s this?”

“Indigenous cultures and peoples marginalized because of colonizers,” he says, and of course he is. “This chapter’s on Spain in the Americas. It’s quite extensive, and appalling.”

“You read this shit for fun?” Baekhyun frowns, staring at the print of a sixteenth century map and the words blur across his eyes.

“It’s always good to inform and educate yourself to be more aware of culture,” he says, “You can’t always expect someone else to do it for you.”

“I can already tell most of these people are awful,” he says, skimming through the pages and seeing the many portraits of many men who’d explored and left their marks on the world, permanent scars.

Minseok gives him a wry smile, and stays quiet, going back to reading. Baekhyun peeks at his notes, and sees many curse words, and he doesn’t need to say anything, really.

“You’ve probably read more from the library than me and Chanyeol combined, and we’ve been living here forever,” he says, taking the mostly empty bowl of food and setting it aside so he can get closer. 

“The Palace’s collection of books is among the most diverse and interesting I’ve ever seen,” he says, “most certainly better than most schools and universities. You should utilize it.”

Baekhyun stares at him, thinking of how he should word his question. Eventually, he realizes there’s no real subtle way to say it, so he goes ahead and asks, “This can’t be  _ it  _ for you, is it?”

Minseok looks up at him, and tilts his head. “What do you mean?”

“Minnie. Your brain, it’s being wasted,” he says. “I’m not, I’m not saying being a bodyguard isn’t hard, or is for dumb people. It’s just, you have a  _ Masters degree,  _ and you have so many ideas and opinions that actually make sense and it would really be such a shame if people don’t get to hear it.”

“People hear it,” he says, but he closes his book, giving him all his attention.

“But it can’t be enough,” he says, sitting up and turning to face him. “What is it you really want to do? I know you said you wanted to work in an advisor’s office, but. Is that still what you want?”

Minseok considers him quietly, and he says, “I do still have some hopes. But, I think it’s not possible. At this rate, I need to be a super genius to be able to work as an advisor.”

“But you are, though. A super genius,” Baekhyun says, and Minseok snorts at him, setting aside his book. “Seriously! Chanyeol always ends up looking so confused after you try explaining your notes to him.”

“But you don’t.”

“No, I’m a smartie too,” he says, and Minseok just smiles gently, letting him have it. He’s the best. “But what is it you want to do?”

Minseok takes a moment, but he offers up his palm for Baekhyun to slide his own into, which he does without hesitation. “I want to continue working in the Palace. Near you. It doesn’t matter what the job is.”

“Stop being sweet, I’m already hooked,” Baekhyun says, and Minseok is rolling his eyes. “But, be honest. You want to be doing the pencil pushing and making everyone’s heads hurt with logic and ethics and morality and you want to be making the change.”

“Well, yes. I don’t deny that I want that,” he says, “but I don’t know if it will even be possible, at this point. I don’t think anyone will take me seriously because I work as security, and while that’s not okay, I’m working to accept that.”

“What do you think then, will make them take you seriously?” he asks.

Minseok thinks. “Honestly? At this point? A PhD.”

“Then do it!” he says, patting at his knees repeatedly and bouncing a little. “I’m sure you’d do so well. And if they don’t let you in, the Palace would always be happy to recommend you.”

“That’s not the way things are done, Baekhyun,” he smiles anyway, looking fond as he reaches out to stroke his fingers against his jaw. “It’s alright. You don’t need to think so much about that.”

“But, if it’s what you need,” he starts to say, and Minseok smiles again, reeling him in for a little kiss.

“Enough about me,” he says, and no, Baekhyun can never get enough of him, “What is  _ you  _ want to do? Do you still want to pursue your graduate studies?”

“I do,” he admits. He curls up against Minseok, tucking his head under his chin. “I think the gap year’s made me more sure of it. Especially having you around all the time, I need and want to learn more.”

“That’s good,” he says, letting Baekhyun get comfortable around him. “You should always enrich yourself.”

“Will you follow me?” Baekhyun says, and Minseok blinks, confused. “I mean, I don’t know. I wasn’t really watched the way I am now, when I was in school abroad. They were always watching, but I wasn’t so heavily guarded? I don’t know how it will work.”

“There are other ways to see each other,” Minseok tells him. It’s a subtle  _ ‘no.’  _ “It would be quite a sight, to see you get worked up over readings and exams, but things will change once you start up school again.”

“A shame,” he sighs, disappointed, but trying to hide it off in another joke. “Where’s the fun in studying when there’s no post-exam sex and sneaking off to the dorms to have quickies in between studying? And no coffee dates where I’m doing all-nighters and you’re chilling, making more notes?”

“Ah, you’re tempting me,” he says, “trying to convince me so I’ll follow you can do everything you’ve just said.”

“Maybe,” he says, grinning wryly, and he suddenly wants to live out a few of those thoughts immediately. He’s crawling up to sit on his lap and he starts kissing his face everywhere. “I can be persuasive. And, I’m-”

“Yes, you’re hardheaded,” Minseok finishes, rolling his eyes, but he tilts his head up for Baekhyun to kiss his lips properly, licking across skin, and Baekhyun’s already got his hands under Minseok’s shirt, fingers dancing across his stone-like abs and Minseok’s hands are on his bum, squeezing.

It doesn’t take much for Minseok to get on his back, and Baekhyun kisses him, tongue in his mouth and hands all over him, and he’s rolling his hips down and there’s heat between them that’s making him sweat a little in his clothes, feels it as their cocks stiffen in their pants.

“Ah, you brat,” Minseok bites out, hooking a leg around him and getting him lower so they’re flush. He thrusts up a little, and his hardness is so  _ nice  _ even through the clothes, Baekhyun moans and licks into his mouth. 

He takes off Minseok’s clothes, a bit more hurried than he’d planned but his dick is really hard and he’s a little desperate, and Minseok gets him naked at the pace he’s set, then, they’re grinding their bare cocks together to full hardness and his room feels suddenly very stuffy even with its perfect air conditioning, gasps and pants making the air hot where they lay, their sounds surrounding them. 

He’s on his back not much later when Minseok rolls them over, sitting on top of him, and his stare is so steady and intense and  _ hot  _ as he rolls his hips down, sliding their erections together, and Baekhyun holds on to his hips, his thighs, wondering but also not caring how things will go tonight. As long as he comes, he’s fine, wherever his cock ends up going.

He tells Minseok as much, telling him to choose between gasps and moans, and he’s given a small smirk for his troubles. 

Minseok leans over to get what they need, and slicking up his fingers, laying over Baekhyun, eyes on him, saying, “Help me with this.”

“Wha-”

Baekhyun doesn’t even finish, because Minseok is sitting back up and reaching behind himself, and a constant, repetitive  _ ‘Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck,’  _ is rewinding over and over in Baekhyun’s head as he watches Minseok insert his fingers into his hole, one at a time. He watches his face, jaw dropping slowly as he opens himself up, eyes fluttering shut, and Baekhyun can’t stop watching him, torn between getting his fingers in him too or just. Stare.

The lube is dropped on his chest, and Minseok, despite the fingers in his ass, still glares at him so haughtily, and Baekhyun moves fast, making quick work of warming the lube on his fingers and reaching back to his ass as well. 

He pushes a finger in alongside Minseok’s two, and they moan together, filthy and they stretch him open, in and out and Minseok lifts himself up, then down, meeting their fingers as they fuck him open.

Baekhyun’s brain is melting, his cock spurting precome, and they’ve just barely started.

They angle  _ just so,  _ and Minseok’s body twitches as he whines, a  _ gorgeous  _ sound, and his free hand settles on Baekhyun’s stomach, trying to ground himself as he chases the angle again, rolling his hips and fucking himself, and Baekhyun really needs to be inside him.

He’s rolling down a condom on himself, lubing up, and it looks as though Minseok is just as impatient as he is, as he takes his cock in his hand after only a few moments, guiding it behind himself to where he’s open and waiting, and he sinks down. It’s evident with how he doesn’t wait to bottom out that their pace will be different tonight, a promise of  _ fast  _ and  _ hard  _ and Baekhyun’s chest pounds with excitement, already overwhelmed with how tight Minseok feels around his cock, his ass setting on his thighs he reaches back to touch where their bodies meet, and Minseok clenches around him as he does, a delicious, filthy sensation.

“Oh, fuck,  _ fuck,” _ he whines as Minseok rolls his hips down and bounces on his cock, riding hard and filling himself up with him. He gets his hands on his hips and grips, tight, and watches as Minseok fucks himself on him.

“You,  _ god,  _ you fit in me, so  _ well,”  _ Minseok moans as he drops himself down on his cock, letting him drive his length up into him, and Baekhyun swipes a thumb over the head of Minseok’s own dick, hard and spilling a little at the end, making him groan and almost flop forward, catching himself before he lands on him. 

“Your, your ass, it just.  _ Takes me,”  _ Baekhyun says, in awe, and Minseok clenches around him for that, eyes so intensely dark as he rolls his hips, body shining and Baekhyun would never have thought that he’d be so attracted to sweat, but here is is, sliding his hand up his body, his torso, to feel the moisture coming from his skin.

Minseok’s pace varies, between bouncing up and down on top of him to rolling his lips languidly, sinuously, and it’s all good, all  _ amazing,  _ and Baekhyun tries to ground himself, tries not to come too fast, wanting it to last. 

He thrusts his hips up, and Minseok moans as his cock shoves into him, the slap of their skin meeting a beautiful background noise that adds to the cacophony of their moans and whines. Minseok drops his body, stopping from collapsing on top of him totally with his hands on either side of his head as he circles his hips and grinding back and impaling himself, and Baekhyun shuts his eyes as he moans endlessly, his cock enveloped in heat and perfection. He thrusts up, again and again, driving his cock into Minseok’s ass and fucking him, and he reaches back and squeezes his cheeks, the most toned butt he’s ever seen and had in his life, a treasure.

He fucks in, trying not to be so loud as his cock is swallowed so perfectly by Minseok’s body, and he needs to do more, wants to give Minseok everything. He grips on to his waist and turns them over, making Minseok grunt as his back hits the mattress, and he fucks in just as quick, never breaking their pace, even increasing it, and the moan he gets for it is delicious.

“Oh,  _ oh,  _ Baekhyun,” he says, breathy and beautiful as he throws back his head and lets Baekhyun split him open. “I’m, oh,  _ oh fuck.” _

“That’s right,” he murmurs into his ear, ramming in and giving it to him. Minseok gets his arms around his shoulders, over his back, breathing short as Baekhyun fucks him. “You’re gorgeous, fucked out.”

“Need it,” he mumbles, whining a little bit, and it’s a good, perfect sound on him. He pounds Minseok with his cock, already so close and conflicted about coming his brains out and fucking him forever, and it’s a great fucking problem to have. “I need to come. Make me come.”

“Yes,  _ yes, yes,”  _ he praises, going harder, mouth dropping open as he feels it coming, heat in his belly and heat around his cock and Minseok’s lips hot on his skin, over his lips. His legs wrap around his waist, and Baekhyun lifts him up, his hands on his hips and he  _ rams in,  _ driving his cock into his ass and letting the slapping sound of their bodies sink into his skin and push him further to completion. 

Minseok clings on as he carries him, hiding his face in his neck as he’s fucked so thoroughly, and Baekhyun feels like his entire body is buzzing, from the effort of fucking and being taken so well, from the need to come. 

“Minnie, baby. Oh, fuck,  _ fuck,”  _ Baekhyun shoves into him harder, faster, “Come, come on my cock-”

Minseok whines, and Baekhyun helps him along, snaking a hand down and taking his hard length in his hand, stroking along with the pace of his hips. It doesn’t take too long, and Minseok is gasping into his mouth as he comes, ribbons of white spilling from the tip of his cock, and Baekhyun can’t, and probably will never, get over how beautiful he is when he reaches his high.

Baekhyun sets him down as he slows his breathing, waiting, and Minseok clenches around him. “Come too.”

It’s easy to understand, easy to follow. He fucks forward, rolling his hips and pushing his length into Minseok’s body, and it hardly takes any time before he’s losing his rhythm, Minseok squeezing his ass as he thrusts in, and he comes, moaning and biting into his shoulder as he shoots into the condom, fucking in soft grinds, and then he’s done, panting and feeling it throughout his body.

Minseok kisses him, pulling him closer even though he knows sooner or later he has to pull out of him, but he allows himself to be held against him, his chest sturdy and sweaty beneath his as their lips move against each other, soft and with a lot of tongue.

“Perfect,” he murmurs against Minseok’s mouth, licking across his lip nuzzling their faces together. Minseok hums his agreement, sinking into the sheets, and Baekhyun falls into him, wanting to be close and closer.

It’s a perfect moment, and he wants to stay in it forever.

.

No such thing.

It starts off like this. His parents are receiving a few foreign dignitaries in the Palace for a formal dinner. It doesn’t happen often, but Baekhyun has been through enough to know how it goes, and is relaxed enough as he gets ready, Minseok helping him dress in his room with deft hands and stealing kisses along the way. They’re careful, still so careful, keeping it in his room tonight, but he’s dressed fancy and it feels a little more exciting this way, and Minseok keeps telling him, “You’re beautiful.”

“Keep it coming,” he teases, joking, but he blushes deeply when Minseok does, in fact, keep it coming. Soft compliments and praise as he gets ready, trying to dress warmly but still classy, and they’re making their way to the lobby to greet their guests with the rest of the family. 

Minseok takes his position in line with Hyukjae, Changmin and the other guards with Junmyeon and Kyungsoo and Donghae at the front, and Baekhyun takes quick glances at him, serious and intimidating in his work mode, and he can’t stop looking, even as he’s greeting their guests and translators, a young, practically a baby girl holding her mother’s hand in hers as a man, presumably her father, greets them and shakes their hands. 

Dinner is delicious, Jungsoo serving them delicious courses, and Baekhyun and Chanyeol play with their youngest guest, adorably named Hailee, and make her laugh as their parents are preoccupied with their more serious conversation, translators working hard between them. 

When their last course, an almond and cream pastry pie with brown butter ice cream that Baekhyun looks at with a confused expression but turns out being  _ perfect,  _ is served and eaten, his mother is saying in her best English, “We can have tea in a bit, but why don’t we give you a tour first?”

“Yes, that sounds good,” they say, and they’re all getting up and making their way out the dining room, Chanyeol and Baekhyun on either side of Hailee with her hands in either of theirs as they walk around the halls, the adults ahead of them.

“That’s me,” Chanyeol is saying in English to her, bending down to her level and showing her a portrait of him and his sister in their Royal regalia. “Handsome?”

She blinks at him, and points to the portrait next to it. Which is of Baekhyun and his brother in their own Royal costumes, and Baekhyun grins, smug and telling Chanyeol in Korean, “What’s good?”

Chanyeol pouts, but moves on easy enough, following their parents and continuing to struggle with his English, and Baekhyun looks up, catches Minseok a ways off, watching them with a small smile on his face. 

He smiles back, and gives Chanyeol a look, saying quietly, “Cover for me. A few minutes.”

“What?” his cousin is blinking rapidly, but Baekhyun ignores him, leaning down to say to his little guest, “I’m going to the bathroom.”

She nods, eyes round and bright and she holds Chanyeol’s hand and lets him lead her along, and Baekhyun straightens up, looking at Minseok, and tilting his head, a little gesture for him to follow him. 

Minseok follows, keeping a straight expression on his face as he paces behind him, and Baekhyun can feel Kyungsoo’s eyes trailing after them, but he’s been so careful these past few weeks. No one’s caught on to them yet, and he plans to keep it that way. Just, just a few minutes, for now, just this once. 

To be on the safe side, he leads them to the bathrooms on the other side where they’d already passed to be very sure, and he’s pulling Minseok in and there’s already a smile on his face when their lips meet. 

“I don’t think this is very wise,” Minseok tells him, but not stopping him as he leans in to kiss him deeper. “Nor very cordial.”

“They’ll be fine. We’ll be fine,” he says, kissing him again. “How are you?”

“I’m the few hours we’ve been kind of apart? I’m alright,” Minseok indulges him, rubbing his side. “You and your cousin really should try to listen to your parent’s discussions, though.”

“And leave that little girl to fend for herself against boredom? No, I’d rather not,” he says, and Minseok just hums, and he’s really so handsome. Baekhyun likes him so, so very much. Much more than he’s admitted aloud. 

“She’s very cute,” Minseok says, and Baekhyun agrees. “You didn’t realize she’s the only heir to the throne of a small island nation, did you?”

Baekhyun blinks. “So she’s more powerful than me?”

“A lot of people are more powerful than you, don’t take it personally,” Minseok says, kissing his cheek. “You must get back to them, Your Highness-“

“My itty, bitty, lovely Minnie,” he grabs his face and smooshes their mouths together, Minseok’s words muffling against his lips, “I’ll make you drop the address real soon.”

Minseok gives him a look, but he just grins in turn, kissing him, and kissing him some more, until their lips are swollen and Minseok’s cheeks are pink and Baekhyun knows he’s not daring much better, which is  _ fantastic.  _

They come out of the bathroom, maybe a little disheveled but otherwise, they’re unassuming, and they don’t even touch each other as they get out the door, which is when the rest of the group turns the corner and enters the hallway and see them. 

Baekhyun feels Minseok stiffen immediately next to him, work mode, and he smiles at their little guest and then with a few innocent, unknowing words, his world begins to crumble. 

“You look cute together,” she comments, naive and honest and she looks at them earnestly. Baekhyun watches Chanyeol freeze next to her, and his parents look at him, curious. Kyungsoo is similarly devastated. “Is he your boyfriend?”

“No, baby, that’s his bodyguard,” her mother answers, making a face, and he knows,  _ knows  _ that this isn’t really anything in the grand scheme of everything, but. The distaste, the evidently appalling thought that he could possibly have fallen for someone as wonderful and incredible as  _ his _ bodyguard, is so clear, on her face, on her husband’s face, it’s crushing. Turns out it’s everything. 

Baekhyun knows he should laugh, or smile, or charm his way out of it, show he’s not affected. But, he’s frozen, no words out of his mouth, his fingers twitching and it’s a moment too long. 

“Ah, he didn’t understand?” the father is saying in English, smiling, looking to the translator, but Baekhyun understood too clearly, and he can’t even be relieved that they can’t tell what’s really going on. 

Minseok isn’t moving next to him, and Baekhyun can feel how caught off guard, how. Scared, he is. 

The look on his mother’s face tells Baekhyun everything he needs to know. It doesn’t matter that he was so careful, that he’d chosen when and where and that they hadn’t even been touching when they’d been seen. It doesn’t matter that he’s managed to keep this up for months with no one else finding out. It doesn’t matter because a few words and he’s left everything on his face to be read, and how he’s really ruined everything. 

“Why don’t we have tea out in the garden?” his father says in English. By the expression in his face, it’s easy to tell he knows enough. Baekhyun’s heart falls. 

Their guests agree easily, smiling and not having caught on, and his father leads them off, making light conversation and jokes, and his mother is still as a stone. 

“My office, the both of you,” she says quietly, and Baekhyun can’t breathe. Can’t move. 

It’s only when he feels Minseok, Minseok who’s worked so hard and has made him so happy and risked everything, guide him silently to move with a hand on the small of his back, and Baekhyun doesn’t even register they’re there until Kyungsoo closes the door and she’s sitting behind her desk. 

Baekhyun’s done some pretty serious shit throughout his life. His mother had never looked this serious at any time then. 

All for a quiet moment he could have gotten later. All just to kiss him because he was so happy and he couldn’t wait, he’d jeopardized everything. 

She’s quiet for several moments, and Junmyeon fidgets behind her. He looks at Baekhyun, eyes wet, and it’s a wealth of information. It doesn’t surprise Baekhyun to see that he had, evidently, been aware of their relationship. He should be a little thankful that he had done him a kindness and not told her, protecting them in the ways he could, but it’s for naught, now.

“Please tell me she was wrong to think that,” she says eventually. 

Baekhyun’s chest is thoroughly crushed, his entire being. Hollow.  He looks at Minseok, and he’s not moving, still standing straight, still in position, but his eyes are welling up and it’s enough to confirm her fears. 

“Tell me how long,” her voice isn’t sharp, isn’t in any way mean or cruel or cold. But it’s this warmth is what’s making this hard, and he’s disappointed her. They both have. 

“A few months, Your Highness,” Minseok is the one who answers, his voice more quiet than Baekhyun’s ever heard it, thin and trying to hold himself together, but. He wants nothing more than to hold him, touch him, comfort him, reassure him that everything will be okay. He’s hardheaded, he’ll find a way, but. He knows, that nothing can quite fix this so easily, especially not his stubbornness. 

“Months,” she says, her face never changing. “Months of you both lying and sneaking around behind everyone’s backs and breaking rules-“

“Mom, it’s. It’s not his fault,” he says, needs Minseok to be cleared. He’d  _ warned  _ him, and Baekhyun was too stubborn to listen, and he knows he’s going to be receiving the brunt of the consequence. “It’s not. I came on to him first, this was my idea-“

“But. I still agreed,” Minseok says, quieter still. “I went along with it and gave in. And I lied about what we were doing and I still fell for you even if I wasn’t supposed to.”

He admits everything, tells her everything, and it takes Baekhyun some time, but he realizes it’s so that  _ he  _ doesn’t have to. Minseok will take the fall for this, for him, and. He can’t let him to that. 

“Mom-“

“Are you aware of how many rules you’ve broken?” she says, and she’s so, so sad, so disappointed. Baekhyun’s heart breaks. “I can’t trust either of you. And what’s worse, I don’t think you two realize how far deep you two are with each other, and it will make this so much harder.”

It’s quiet, and Baekhyun’s brain is racing with everything he’s thinking. How he’s trying to think of something to say that will somehow,  _ somehow  _ make this better, but. It fails him. He can’t find the words, and he looks at Minseok, who hasn’t moved, who’s still standing and steady but his face can’t hide everything. And, how she’s too right. How this is too important to him, too much of a beautiful thing that he holds dear and makes him happy and to not have this, not have  _ him.  _ It would crush him. 

“I’m sorry that we broke your trust, Your Highness,” he says, and he looks like he’s already expecting the worst and steeling himself for it. “Please forgive me for this, but. I know of what’s to come, and if I can just say this. I, I cannot regret it. I cannot regret him.”

The room is dead silent, Junmyeon is crying and his mother is still, looking at him. Baekhyun looks between them, feels like crying himself, his eyes stinging and his heart beating painfully in his chest, and he needs to fix this, needs to keep him here. He can’t not have him here. 

“Please leave. I will have words with Minseok,” she says, and Baekhyun can’t read her voice.

“Mom, wait-“

“Please. Junmyeon, Kyungsoo, escort my son out.”

“Mom,” he tries to reach out for Minseok, root him here, but Junmyeon and Kyungsoo place gentle hands on either of his arms, and he tries to resist. 

“It’s alright, Baekhyun,” Minseok says quietly, “it’s okay. You should go.”

“Minnie,” he says, and his voice is shaking.

“Leave us,” she says decisively, and Junmyeon and Kyungsoo are bringing him out without much choice, and the door closes with Minseok not looking at him. 

“Let me go,” he says, fighting against their hold and trying for the door, but Junmyeon stands in front of it, his face wet and looking so sorry. “Junmyeon-“

“Let it be, Your Highness,” Kyungsoo says. Baekhyun looks at him. His eyes are rimmed red as well. “Your interference will make this all that much harder.”

“That’s the point,” he bites out, but Kyungsoo’s grip is strong. “Please, please let me go-“

“Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo says quietly. “Calm down.”

He breathes, and. He exhales, long and tremulous and there are tears in his eyes and his heart aches. He looks at them, looks at Kyungsoo, waits for the  _ ‘I told you so.’  _

It never comes, not even in his eyes. He’s never been like that, and Baekhyun was just looking for something else to focus on. Something else to make him angry or distracted or. Feel anything else other than this. 

“What,” he tries, calming himself with a hand in his heart, “what’s going to happen? What will she do to him?”

Junmyeon and Kyungsoo glance at each other, sharing a look and a thought, and Baekhyun can’t stand not knowing. 

Eventually, Junmyeon tells him in a careful tone, “Your mother isn’t cruel, Your Highness. With what you’ve just displayed, I think she knows this runs more deeply than with anyone you’ve ever been with before. Much more deeply.”

He waits for the  _ ‘But.’ _

Kyungsoo is the one who provides it. “You did something very big. And lied about it. The consequence won’t be small, Your Highness.”

He does his best to not cry, but his cheeks are wet within moments and his chest hurts a great deal. 

“I’ll wait here-”

“No, Your Highness,” Kyungsoo says, “You should proceed back to your guests. I suspect this will take some time.”

“I don’t care, I’ll wait.”

“Baekhyun. We care about you both,” Junmyeon says, “We want things to be okay for you and him. But you waiting here, it won’t help things. It would be better if you waited and gone back to have tea, until things calm somewhat.”

He breathes, breathes deep and tries to calm himself down, tries to think of what to do, what would be best of Minseok. It takes a few minutes, but he says eventually, very quietly, says, “I’m scared.”

“No one is telling you you shouldn’t be,” Junmyeon tells him gently. “That’s alright. He means a lot to you, we understand.”

“But for now, for him,” Kyungsoo says, beginning to guide them outside to the gardens, “Have some tea. Make that little girl smile. She’s a good one. She’ll change how people think.”

He’s outside before he’s really aware of it, Kyungsoo giving him up a little before he’s ushered to the alcove, and it’s cold, really cold just as the dry winter is due to begin, but the alcove is closed off and there is a small fire tended to and Baekhyun tries his best to smile as he joins them all again. Chanyeol’s eyes are curious but he doesn’t say anything, and they preoccupy themselves with putting little sugar flowers in Hailee’s tea and trying to make her smile with silly faces and little antics. 

His mind is elsewhere, and he tries not to freeze and run off when his mother comes back, small smile on her face, calm and gentle in her compliments of the weather and tea and Minseok is nowhere in sight. 

It’s a few hours later, when their guests have finally left and everyone else retires to their quarters, when he runs off to Minseok’s room, not finding him there, then running off to his room and Minseok is sitting on his bed, still in his work suit and staring quietly at his lap. 

He doesn’t even say anything. Doesn’t think he can. He rushes to him and pulls him close in a tight embrace, tucking his face in his neck and willing himself not to cry. 

“You’re alright, Baekhyun,” Minseok is saying, rubbing his back, calming him. “It’s okay. You’ll be okay.”

“I’m sorry,” he says, trying not to be too dramatic and sob, but. So much is happening and he can barely cope. “I’m sorry, Minnie, I’m so sorry-“

“It’s not your fault,” he says quietly, “you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I said I’d protect you,” he says. “I promised myself I’d protect you, I was being so careful.”

“That’s my job,” Minseok says, a little light, and Baekhyun just holds him all the more tighter.

He’s afraid for the worst. 

“I have to leave tonight.”

The worst is so much  _ worse _ than he’d ever prepared himself for. 

“No, no, no,  _ no,”  _ he says, pulling back and bring their faces together, leaning his forehead against Minseok’s. “No, I’ll, I’ll talk to mom, I’ll think of something-“

“Baekhyun. We, we can’t. We can’t do this anymore,” Minseok says, voice steady but soft.

He shakes his head, not wanting to listen, not wanting to know what’s going to come out of his mouth. 

“No,” he says on a breath. It’s all he says. 

“Please. I’m, I’m trying,” Minseok says, and he gets up and walks away because he’s not listening to this, doesn’t want to hear Minseok pleading for him to understand and saying things he doesn’t want to hear, because he’s  _ obviously  _ going to do the ‘right’ thing and be the one to walk away, so Baekhyun doesn’t have to. “You deserve to know why we can’t, please listen-“

“No,” he says, voice sharper. “No. I can fix this.”

“You  _ can’t,”  _ Minseok says, standing and trying. “We can’t. We did things we shouldn’t have. Wonderful, beautiful things, but you’re a Royal, Baekhyun. I’m your bodyguard. That’s what I was supposed to be. I can’t be your boyfriend and expect to do this job the way I’m supposed to.”

“Seemed to be doing just fine for the last few months,” he says, and he watches as Minseok’s heart breaks in front of him. 

“And just how long could we keep it up until you get hurt and I blame myself? Until something as simple as people looking at you differently and it’s because of me?” he says, and it’s worst case scenario but with Minseok, Baekhyun knows he always has to think like that. It’s punishing.

He’d been deluded to think that the months of happiness could change that. 

“We lied, Baekhyun,” he says, “we lied and your mother is right. We betrayed everyone’s trust and we were impulsive. We were beautiful and bright but impulsive and not ready.”

Baekhyun stares at him. “So she told you to leave.”

“And I agreed to do so,” he says. His voice doesn’t waver.

“Why?” he bites out, trying not to get too angry, too overwhelmed with emotion. Because this doesn't make sense. None of this makes any sort of sense.

“Because I made the mistake of letting this go as far as it did, when I’m supposed to know better for you,” he answers, and Baekhyun’s anger gets the better of him. 

“You don’t know everything,” he says. “Just because you take notes and read and you have a Masters, you don’t know everything.”

“I  _ know,”  _ he says, admitting it fully. “I know, and it was my mistake. Because I thought it would be okay but the truth is that you deserve better than. Better than me.”

He’s full on angry, hurt, sad. “What do you mean? Better than you? What does that even mean? You’re more than enough! You are  _ perfect  _ for me.”

“I can’t give you more-“

“But all I want from you is  _ you!”  _ he says, just short of shouting, and he doesn’t understand why he can’t get that. “You. Have always been more than enough.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Make me understand!”

“The way they looked at you,” he says, and Baekhyun’s heart drops. “The way they sneered when even just the merest imaginary  _ thought  _ of you and me, when even for just a flash of a moment they looked down on you because of me. Her parents.  _ Your  _ parents. They all looked at you differently.”

“But-“

“Not everyone will be the little girl who can look at us smiling at each other and think nothing wrong of it,” he says. “Because of me, they made their assumptions about you and your character, and I can’t let that be.”

“You are more than enough,” he just repeats, because it’s true. “You are a great,  _ amazing  _ person and any person who looks down on you doesn’t deserve your time and  _ fuck them.  _ You are worthy of everything.”

“Baekhyun, it’s not that easy,” Minseok says. “We were in a bubble and we, you, were wonderful and it was good, but we can’t stay in it.”

“Then we don’t!”

“No, you’re not listening,” Minseok says, his tone trying to keep itself stable, but his eyes are shining. He cups Baekhyun’s face in his hands and tries, “We can’t. I can’t have this.”

“You can-”

“I  _ can’t,”  _ he says, “I can’t have you. Not when we’re like this.”

“You think I can go back to not having you? After being with you like this and being so happy?” his voice shakes and Minseok wipes under his eyes. “I,  _ I can’t.  _ I don’t want to. You might not think it’s a big deal because we never really do anything and maybe it hasn’t been very long but. I can’t, I’ve never had this with anyone. I’ve never had quiet and calm and I want it, and I don’t want anyone else.”

Minseok breathes, exhales and keeps himself anchored to the moment. “You’re making it. So hard, for me to do this.”

“Then why are you doing it?” he asks, and he’s spent, didn’t know it could be this painful. 

“I need to protect you,” he says. “If you were in my position, you wouldn’t like it either. The way they looked down on you, the way they judged you.”

“But I  _ don’t care,”  _ he says, because he doesn’t. “I don’t care what they think.”

“But I do,” he says, letting go of his face. “I care of what they think about you. I don’t want them to not trust you, because of me.”

“Isn’t it enough that I trust you?” he says, “Isn’t it enough?”

“It’s more than enough,” he says, and Baekhyun hears the finality in his voice, “It is everything. But, right now. It’s not what’s good for you.”

Baekhyun stares at him. “So you think what’s good for me is not letting me have you?”

Minseok doesn’t tremble, but his eyes shine. “Yes.”

And Baekhyun’s had about enough. Doesn’t want to listen to him give up. “Fine. Fine, do the right thing then.”

“Baekhyun-“

_ “‘Your Highness,’”  _ he bites, and he doesn’t see Minseok’s wince. “Walk away, do the easy thing.”

A pause. “If you think I’m doing this because it’s easy-“

“You are,” he says, opening his door and waiting.

Minseok looks at him, waiting and waiting but Baekhyun refuses to give him anything. So, he leaves, but not without stopping in front of him, and he raises his knuckles to swipe under his eyes. Baekhyun blinks when he sees it wet. 

“I’m truly, truly, so sorry,” Minseok says quietly. Baekhyun doesn’t say anything, closes the door behind him.

He takes a deep breath, leaning his forehead against the door, and stops thinking.

.

“Are you not going to listen to me?” Chanyeol tries to talk to him. 

Baekhyun ignores him, turning up the volume so the sound coming through the earphones blocks out all the sound, and he wipes the screen, making sure there’s no dampness when he starts tapping. 

“Baekhyun - oh my god,” he says when he starts singing along and it turns out to be  _ When the Wind Blows.  _ “You dramatic shit-”

He’s ignored, and Baekhyun gets more comfortable on his stomach, tapping and moving his fingers along. He gets three stars and beats his previous score, and it doesn’t feel as fulfilling as he thought it would.

He exits out of the game, locks his phone, sits up on the bed, stares at nothing.

“This is, um, cute,” Chanyeol says, and bless him, Baekhyun knows he’s trying to distract him, take his mind off things, but he’s by his mirror and holding up a little clip. Coral with a tiny cat at the end, and he shuts down again.

“Jungsoo made dinner,” Chanyeol says, alarmed at him going blank, and it’s been a few days since things have more or less imploded. He approaches cautiously, and takes a seat at the edge of Baekhyun’s bed, and he’s fine, Baekhyun is fine. Except he’s kind of really crushed, still, and it’s. Strange. He’s never quite felt like this. Happiness, warm and comfort and then. A hollow, with intermittent moments of deep sadness or anger. 

“Okay,” he says, not really showing much of anything else. He’s tired even though he hasn’t really been doing much.

Chanyeol fidgets. “Are you okay?”

He doesn’t move, doesn’t really think. “Vague.”

Chanyeol bites his lips, “Um. Donghae and Kyungsoo were talking, and they, um. Agreed, that Hyukjae will take over. For both of us, until you go back to school-“

From feeling nothing he’s back to being angry, and he huffs and turns to his side, away from him. 

“Baek,” Chanyeol says, tries to placate him. He pauses, tries, “Do you want to go out? I hear Lu Han was having a show near Ehwa-“

“No,” he says, really uninterested in doing just about anything. “You should go, though. You should have fun.”

Chanyeol stares at him, and it’s obvious that he doesn’t really know how to approach his mood. Baekhyun doesn’t blame him; he’s never really ever been like this, never quite had his heart broken this way, so. 

“Baek. You should talk to him,” he says finally. It’s the wrong words. 

“He’s made it clear how he feels about me,” he says through gritted teeth.

“You’re being really one-sided about this,” Chanyeol tells him honestly, and Baekhyun doesn’t have the energy to listen to this. “He must feel so much.”

“It was all too obvious, when he walked away and didn’t fight.” He’s tired and hungry but also not hungry. He just wants to sleep. “Are you on my side or not?”

“Of course I am,” he says, and he looks so earnest and his eyes sympathetic but it doesn’t make Baekhyun feel any better about anything. “I just want you to feel better.”

Baekhyun knows he wants to say something else, but he’s not patient enough to wait for Chanyeol to think of how to word it properly. 

“What? Spit it out,” he says, and Chanyeol jumps a little, staring at him. His tone is less than kind, and he feels very bad, “Sorry. I’m just. Still feeling a bit devastated.”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment, then a barely there, but clear, “And you don’t think he feels the same, too?”

“I feel like you’re trying to punish me for something  _ he  _ did,” he says, staring at him.

Chanyeol doesn’t waver, and something in his posture straightens up, and his voice is calm and low when he says, “Baekhyun. We’re blood, I love you and I’m always going to listen to you and want the best for you. But I don’t think you’re really thinking everything through.”

“What’s to think through?” he says, glaring. “He  _ left.” _

“And it hurt you, I know,” he says, staying calm, “but I don’t think you realize how hard this is on him too.”

Baekhyun stares at him, challenging him. “Hard? How is this hard for him?”

“Do you really think this was easy for him to do? To leave you?” he says, “He’s doing this so you won’t get in trouble. So you can breathe easy when you’re here, so no one will be breathing down your neck and questioning you or looking at you differently. And I know you know this. You’re just sad and hurt.”

“I didn’t care,” he says, and Chanyeol watches him steadily. “I didn’t care, I just needed him but he still  _ left.  _ So I must not have meant that much to him.”

“I know you want me on your side. And I am,” he says, “but. He’s a friend, and I have to think about where he’s coming from too. And if that’s the way you think he feels, then. Maybe you don’t know him as well as you think you do.”

“Don’t,” he grits out, breathing hard. 

“This isn’t any easier for him, either. He risked his job, his ties here, really his reputation, all for you, Baekhyun. He, he gave up a lot, to try, for you,” he says, earnest and calm and quiet. “I know you’re angry and sad and you should be. But I think you’re forgetting that leaving, it would have devastated him too.”

Baekhyun stops listening. It gets painful and the pain is fresh all over again. Different, of another reason, but it fills him the same way.

.

“Please let me see him,” Baekhyun says quietly, after he had bowed and greeted her formally when he had entered her office, something he doesn’t normally do.

His mother blinks a few times, and she sighs, nodding at Junmyeon to leave, and he nods in turn. He pauses when he reaches Baekhyun, bowing, and a gentle pat on his back. She’s then gesturing for her son to take the seat in front of her when they’re left alone. “You’re not ready.”

“Please let me see him,” he asks again, voice even softer, and his eyes are tired and even the way he holds himself, it’s different.

She looks at him, and she doesn’t like the way this had all gone. “Have you tried to contact him?”

He nods, but, “He doesn’t answer. My messages don’t send, even my emails don’t go through.”

She breathes, and tells him, “I told him to cut off any communication with you. Because I know you wouldn’t be able to do so.”

He looks at his lap, wringing his hands. “Even though he worked for me in the end, it’s still your word that gets followed.”

“Of course,” she says, but she doesn’t like it. She doesn’t like that had to make the decisions she made, but they had to be done. “He’s a man of his word.”

Baekhyun doesn’t say anything for a long time. Then, he looks up, his eyes shining, and her heart breaks for him. “Please don’t punish him for my mistake. I, I can take the pain, and I’ll do anything you want. But, please. Please don’t make him suffer for what I pushed him to do.”

“You didn’t push him, darling,” she says. “He knew the consequences, and he still chose to do this. He wanted it just as much.”

He looks at her, and he admits in a voice so tender, “I love him. Mom, I. Please. I love him. I know this doesn’t help anything because it will take time to earn your trust back, but I feel like, like I can’t breathe. This hurts.”

When he cries, she cries with him. “I know. I know you do.”

“Then why did you send him away?” he asks between breaths. “Why did you make him leave?”

“Many reasons.”

“Please. Please tell me.”

She looks at him, and goes slowly, “Because he lied. You lied. And there are rules, and you both knew that.”

“No one would have found out,” he says, and she smiles sadly at him. “I, I was going to tell you. I promise I was.”

“Well, it’s one thing if I know,” she says. “What if everyone else did, too?”

He stays quiet, but she knows what he’s thinking, and so she speaks instead so he doesn’t have to.

“Baekhyun, I know you don’t care much of what other people think, and it’s part of your charm and it is mostly endearing. But there are limits, and this is a big one. Our family is built on expectations and institution, and I know it can be crushing and it’s unfair, and we’re working to fix that, slowly. But this is something we can’t deal with, just yet. There are boundaries, and you ignored them. He was supposed to know better. I had to make him leave. I can’t ignore the rules just because he’s your boyfriend.”

Baekhyun just stares down, his tears never stopping. “So you are my Crown Princess first, before you are my mother?”

“They are one and the same, in this case,” she says, and he sighs, shuddering and loud. “And. I know you know this. A man like that, He was never meant to be security detail. He’s meant to be out there, making the change, speaking his mind, influencing and doing good.”

He glances up, his face wet, but he looks calmer, and he listens to her.

“I’m not sorry for letting him go,” she tells him, closing her eyes at his flinch. ‘I’m not, because this means he has the opportunities to do more, to do what it is he’s really meant to do. I am sorry, that it’s hurting you, and him, so much. But you’re both not ready. Lying to me is proof of that. Give yourselves time.”

He doesn’t look so convinced, and she’s ready for it when he says, “You didn’t like him with me.”

“I didn’t like that you broke the rules and lied,” she says honestly. “But I do not hate him, hard as that may be to believe. I can see you two are good for each other. He calmed you, and you brought out a lightness in him. You just aren’t ready for it now.”

“So what do I do?”

“You grow a little,” she says, as kindly as she can say it. “The both of you need the time. You will see each other again. I don’t know when, but you will. If you think this is worth waiting for.”

He looks back up at her again, and everything on his face is more than enough to tell her that he believes it is. She’d expected nothing less. 

.

.

“No, that doesn’t make any sense,” Jongdae is saying, eyebrows furrowed as he reads through the articles again, and Baekhyun watches him try to find his points he’d written down. Somewhere. “How would Mill’s theory even be applicable here?”

“I don’t know, that’s what it says on the cheat sheet,” Baekhyun says, writing down notes in his notebook as he goes along. It’s been a long day. Been a very long few years, really. “Well, actually, from the layman’s perspective, there might be some leeway-”

“It seems more like a Machiavellian thing, though,” Sehun says, and Baekhyun sighs, going back to his readings, and if it were any other day, he might have more energy to discuss and theorize and maybe joke around about how all these old dead white men really were the  _ worst _ if time permits, but there was no time at  _ all  _ now, and he has less than a day to cram a month’s worth of research into his brain.

The notes have been helping, though. The notes always helped.

They’ve camped themselves in the most quiet corner of their regular coffee shop for many hours now, taking turns getting up and ordering something every hour so they don’t look like they’re freeloading the wifi and caffeine even though the baristas know them well enough to not mind, and it was Sehun’s turn, and he’d been yapping about a spicy hot chocolate with cinnamon and Baekhyun stopped listening eventually.

It figures that something happens  _ then,  _ and they both look up when they hear a rather loud gasp, a crash, and Sehun’s,  _ “Oh, shit, I am so sorry-” _

“It’s your turn,” Jongdae says, not looking up from his tablet, and Baekhyun frowns at him, but gets up to help Sehun.

“Oh, your shirt, I am so sorry,” Sehun is saying when Baekhyun approaches him and his latest victim to his sleep-deprived motor senses, his back turned to them. “I really, let me help you, I insist-”

And Sehun, unbelievably, is  _ flirting,  _ the little shit, the tone of his voice teasing and cloying, and Baekhyun would tell him to go for it any other day but they have so much shit to cram and they can’t do this now.

“Hunnie, leave the poor man alone,” he says, helping the poor baristas pick up some of the broken pieces of their dishes and giving Sehun a wad of napkins to mop himself and the stranger up. “We have about a hundred more philosophies to go through-”

“Give me like a second,” he cocks an eyebrow and Baekhyun makes a face back because he’s doing his sexy face and he’s almost impossible to stop once he really gets into it. “I just need to help out handsome over here-”

“No, it’s quite alright, nothing to worry about,” he’s saying, turning back around to face them, and.

Baekhyun’s world stops, and it’s like the last two years never happened.

“Minseok,” he breathes out, he’s stock still and stares at him. He’s still so beautiful, barely aged, wonderful, hair wavy and longer, and his glasses perched on his nose. Despite the chocolate stained shirt, he’s perfect, so perfect still. 

“Your Highness,” he says, eyes wide, but he bows his head a little. Baekhyun’s heart suddenly aches. It’s been so long since he’s heard that voice. Been almost as long since that voice had addressed him so formally. But either way, it still has the same warmth, the same sweetness. 

“Minseok?” Sehun links, confused. Baekhyun gives him a look to shut up, and of course, that’s when he realizes, and decidedly does  _ not  _ shut up. “Oh, is this your sexy ex Minseok?”

“Hunnie,” he warns, and Minseok blushes, and Baekhyun wants the earth to eat him whole. “Think about your next words very carefully.”

“You didn’t tell me your boyfriend was so adorable and hot,” he says, giving Minseok a once over and it just makes him blush even harder. Baekhyun wants to melt into him. 

“I called him  _ ‘sexy’  _ on a constant basis, what did you expect for him to look like?” he hisses, and Sehun gives a small shrug, the brat.

“I feel like I may have distracted you from your work enough,” Minseok is saying then, and they both look at him. “I’ll get going.”

“Oh, no, at least let me help you with your shirt,” Sehun says, tone still flirty, and Baekhyun stares at him.

“I really am quite alright,” he says, smiling, waving them off. Baekhyun thinks of all the time that’s passed, and he knows that people can change a lot in two years. But, just with the way he smiles, he knows, can just tell, that Minseok is mostly still so wholly himself, the same man he fell in love with. His chest aches. 

“I’ll be off,” he says, smiling at them both, but it goes softer with Baekhyun, a small nod of his head, a short, “Your Highness.”

He walks off in the direction of the restrooms, and Baekhyun stares until he’s gone, and even after then. 

“He’s  _ something,  _ Hyunnie, I get why you never really took me up on my offers to hook you up with people,” Sehun says, impressed. “Seems like not just anyone can be a follow-up to  _ that.” _

“He. He hasn’t changed, much,” he says. Sehun look at him, considering.

“You should get in there and help him,” he suggests, and Baekhyun’s eyes widen, and he’s shaking his head.

“I’m not ready.”

“You’ve waited two years to see him again,” Sehun says, “And here he is. Take the moment. You never know when this might happen again.”

Baekhyun pauses. Then he freezes.

“You  _ baby-” _

Sehun pushes him, strong enough that he almost loses his footing and falls flat on his face on the floor, and he takes several lunges forward, trying to steady himself. When he turns to yell at him, Sehun’s already back at the counter, ordering up another drink with his stupidly charming smile at Jongin, who’s blushing a little as he goes to make his drink.

Baekhyun glares, but he looks to where Minseok’s gone. Steels himself, thinking, because Sehun was right, two years and he might not get another chance again, this must be the moment. He goes in and Minseok is by the washcounter, dabbing at his shirt with a few wet napkins, running it over the hot water and trying to clean himself as best as he can. 

“Sorry about him,” he says to break the silence. Minseok looks up, and gives him a small smile. “He’s mostly very graceful, but we’ve all been lacking sleep. Final requirements season.”

“It’s the worst,” Minseok says, and Baekhyun misses him. “It’s very good to see you again, Your Highness.”

“You can call me by my name,” he says. “Calling me so formally is kind of weird, since we dated, and you’ve seen me naked.”

Minseok snorts, and he smiles wider. “And I was blessed all the more for it.”

_ “Yes,  _ that’s what I’ve been telling them, but they think me stripping is a hindrance more than anything,” he says, and Minseok is smiling, then chuckling a little.

“Still have quite the tongue, don’t you,” he says, and Baekhyun doesn’t know how to react. Ends up coming forward and helping him wipe at his shirt, hoping the lights don’t catch his blush. 

“I can do that-”

“It’s okay, let me help,” he says, and Minseok pauses, before he lets him do so. 

“You said it’s final requirements season for you” Minseok says, and Baekhyun nods to his chest. He realizes how close he is and it’s making a heat crawl up to the back of his neck. “Your graduate studies? What degree?”

“Public Administration. I’m about to graduate. Again,” he says. “Hopefully. If I pass everything.”

“Don’t be like that, of course you’ll pass. You’re incredibly intelligent,” Minseok says. “Where?”

“KNU.”

Minseok doesn’t say anything for a while. “KNU.”

“Yes,” he says slowly, braving a glance up, just to see Minseok already looking at him with the most curious expression on his face. “What, um. What about it?”

“We’ve been running the same circles this whole time,” he says, and Baekhyun doesn’t quite understand, so he adds, “I’ve been taking up my PhD studies there, too.”

“Wait. Really?” Baekhyun says, and he nods, smiling ruefully.

“Political Science,” he says, and Baekhyun expected nothing less.

“Then. Why haven’t we seen each other until now?” he asks.

“Most of your classes are at night, right?” At his nod, he continues, “I’m mostly in the university during the day for work. Otherwise, I’m mostly in the field for research.”

“Work?”

Minseok blushes. “I teach some undergraduate classes, in the Political Science Department.”

Baekhyun looks at him, stares really. “Minseok. You’re really doing it.”

He blinks at him. The proximity makes his eyelashes look extraordinarily long. “What do you mean?”

“You’re doing it, doing what you were meant to do,” he says, and he’s so. Proud. “You’re teaching and doing the influencing and sharing your knowledge, and. I know it’s not in an advisor’s office, but. It’s something. I’m so happy for you.”

Minseok’s face softens, and he smiles at him, “you’re doing well too, Your Highness. I see you’re working so hard, and I know you will do such great things for the country. If it’s alright for me to say, I’m very proud of you.”

Baekhyun melts, and he knows he means it. It lifts him up from what has been an admittedly very hard few weeks, and he knows he shouldn’t, as he hasn’t seen him in years, doesn’t even know if he feels similarly, but he flings his arms around his back and embraces him, tucking his face into his neck like he used to. 

He still smells the same. Clean, a little sweet, wonderful. 

“Oh, Your Highness. Your shirt-“

“Can be washed,” he says, echoes of the day spent by the lake, eating unhealthily and happily, sat on Minseok’s jacket on the ground. 

A pause, and Minseok embrace him in turn. His arms feel the same around him, and a small kiss is pressed to his cheek. His chest aches, but for wonderful reasons. 

“Sorry,” Baekhyun he says, detangling himself, and Minseok’s hand immediately goes to his shirt, patting his stomach and checking, but his shirt is black, and Baekhyun is more preoccupied with the way his hand is gentle on him, touching him.

It’s a little silent, and a little awkward. Baekhyun clears his throat, says, “I’ve never seen you here, before, and I’m always here.”

“I usually make my own coffee, or I go somewhere nearer to my place,” he says. “I thought I’d try this place, since I know Yixing and Nini.”

“Of course you do,” Baekhyun says, and it’s fond, and Minseok smiles in turn. 

It’s different, but still the same, between them. Baekhyun can not help but feel a softness, a calm, and he’s waited so long.

“May I see you again?” he asks, and Minseok blinks at him, surprised, and looking a little apprehensive. “After I’m done with everything.”

“I don’t know,” Minseok answers. 

“Just a dinner,” he says, “I’ll make it.”

“You?” he asks, doubtful, and fine. That’s fair. 

“Okay, maybe not me,” he says, but he says, “Maybe not dinner. Lunch, or breakfast, or not even a meal if you don’t want that. Maybe, a coffee? Or something. I just, I would really like to see you again. Just as a friend.”

“I think we both know we can never be just friends, Your Highness,” he says honestly, and truthfully, he’s not wrong. Baekhyun’s chest aches with it. “But. I would too, like to see you again.”

He lights up, and offers his phone to Minseok, who takes it after a moment, and plugs in his number for him. 

Minseok leaves after their short goodbyes, and promises to keep in touch, and Baekhyun watches as he leaves, eyes on him walking out the door as he makes his way back to their table, his piles of work still needing to be done ignored. 

“That guy was your ex?” Jongdae says, and Baekhyun looks back at him, then Sehun, who just shrugs, more or less confirming he blabbed.

“Yeah,” he says, and Jongdae hums, thinking. 

“He looks too cute to be a bodyguard.”

“He’d throw you to the ground and have fun with it,” Baekhyun says, and Sehun sighs dreamily. He’s tempted to kick him, but he refrains, going back to his notes. “No stealing of sexy exes, Hunnie.”

“His body proportions look so nice,” he says in an exhale and Baekhyun huffs, because he’s right, but he shouldn’t give him any more reasons to be tempted. 

“I asked him out, so don’t even think about it,” he says, and Sehun pouts, sighing, but he starts up again about how the Locke makes more sense than the Rousseau, and he welcomes the distraction his studying has become. 

.

_ ‘Good luck, Baekhyun. I know you’ll do well.’ _

A simple text right before his oral defense, and he can’t help but smile through the hour and a bit of torture, his spirits immediately lifted. 

.

He’s done, mercilessly, he is finished with studying and school and research and he is  _ done.  _

He, Sehun, Jongdae and there other friends are celebrating in a wine bar with little foods and perfect sangrias that shouldn’t be too much for him, and there are a few weeks until they officially graduate but the air is celebratory and happy, and he’s drunk off of it, and maybe on the wine too. 

It’s with this that he texts,  _ “I really miss your cooking.” _

He gets in turn a simple, concise, inviting,  _ ‘Just ask.’ _

.

He ends up inviting Minseok over to his apartment near the campus, his place stocked and ready with the things Minseok had tried to buy himself but Baekhyun had insisted he would, because. It was the least he could do for basically begging to be cooked for. 

“Your place is very lovely,” Minseok says, and Baekhyun doesn’t quite know what to so, as he had had no part in choosing the place, decorating it, making it a home. The most he does is sleep and eat and maybe watch or play games.

“Thank you,” he settles for, and he leads Minseok to the kitchen, and he fidgets a bit, before asking, “Do you need any help?”

“I’m fine, thank you,” he says, smiling, and it’s not strained, but there is something in the way he holds himself, looks at him, that makes it clear to Baekhyun that he doesn’t quite know how to act, and he settles something between comfort, familiarity, and awkwardness. “What would you like to eat, Your Highness?”

He’s reminded of late nights in the kitchen of the Palace, lights low and digging his spoon or chopsticks into whatever Minseok makes for him, all warm, all delicious, all comforting, but nothing better than his company.

“Anything you think I would like,” he says, sits by the island. “I trust your judgement.”

Minseok looks at him, and gives him a small smile, understanding. “Alright.”

It’s quick work. Dicing onions, preparing the kimchi, slicing the ham into thick cubes. Frying, cooking, heating the rice in the microwave, and he watches Minseok’s posture loosen as he makes their simple meal, settling into the familiarity of cooking for Baekhyun, something for them to share and talk over, something that really is theirs. No matter how much Chanyeol tries to get into it.

Soon, there are two very full bowls of kimchi fried rice and fried ham between them. Just by the look of it, Baekhyun is reminded of how, within the first few months, when he didn’t know enough and was too set in doing things his way, he had been warmed and fed kindly with this same meal. It touches him more than he would want to admit.

It tastes the same, delicious and hot and kindness cooked well into every grain. “Oh. I haven’t had food like this in so long. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing, Your Highness,” he says, smiling and then blushing when Baekhyun moans around the next bite he takes, and he adds, “A simple celebratory meal, for no longer having to think about school.”

“And for being a little bit smarter but a lot more tired,” he says, raising his can of cold cola, and Minseok raises the beer Baekhyun had gotten for him especially.

They talk comfortably as they eat, about aimless topics, nothing very deep, and they haven’t had to have conversations like this in so long. In more than half the time that Minseok had worked for him, they were dating, and small talk wasn’t something they had to do. Their conversations always led to knowing more about each other, what they liked doing, what they hated, what they wanted to do, even if it was about the most shallow things, like what foods they didn’t like or discussing why Baekhyun had a shit alcohol tolerance or debates about whether Minseok would look good with pink hair.

Now, it’s pleasant enough, coasting from topic to topic, but about things like the school, the coffee shop, antics that Minseok’s students get into, or Baekhyun’s friends. 

It’s only when Baekhyun is picking at the last few scarlet dyed grains scattered in the bottom of his bowl that he asks quietly, “Have you been okay? After my mom sent you away?”

Minseok looks at him, long finished with his meal, and he says, “Things were hard. It was especially crushing for me, to not be able to speak to you.”

Baekhyun’s hand tightens around his chopsticks, heart jumping to his throat. It was hard for him too. Devastating.

“But,” Minseok says, tilting his head as he thinks, “things have been good, lately. I like teaching, even though some kids are brats. Many of them are intelligent, promising, and I rather like debating with them. I like studying, even though it’s hard. There are many things I wished were different, but. There are also many things I like the way they are now. It’s a good balance, I think.”

Baekhyun stares at the last dregs of food in his bowl, unable to think of an adequate response. He wishes he were more eloquent, many times, but he always has something to say, is happy enough with his wit. Now, he just wants to speak, to converse, but. His brain provides him with nothing.

“What about you, Your Highness?” he asks, genuine. “I know I have hurt you. Are you alright, now?”

He thinks, considers and tries to come up with an answer that can somehow encompass everything he’s felt since that night. He settles with, “I’m happy, sometimes. It was hard, really hard, at first, when you left. I hated you for awhile, then mostly I missed you. Just wanted to see you, but when I couldn’t, I just poured everything into studying and working hard.”

“I’m sorry,” Minseok says, and Baekhyun shakes him off. “I know I’ve hurt you, but. I didn’t know-”

“It’s okay,” Baekhyun says, looking up and making sure he knows he means it. “I understand more, now, why you had to do it. I’m sorry, for being as harsh as I was. I understand that you were trying to protect me. I just, I really wanted you to stay.”

“As did I,” he says, and his voice is tinged with a subtle melancholy. “I’m still sorry. I never wanted to hurt you.”

“There are many things we promise to ourselves that we can’t always keep,” he says in turn, keeping it as kind as he can, and he smiles softly at him, because he understands. He understands too well. “I’m still very thankful for our time together. I always treasure it. It was a happy time. My happiest.”

Minseok looks pained. “Mine as well,” he admits, and Baekhyun didn’t know tonight would go like this. He’d never thought that they would get right to it, but there are many things he can’t always predict. 

He doesn’t like the heaviness that’s suddenly set over them, doesn’t like it when Minseok looks like that, so he says, grin on his face and leaning forward with his elbows on the counter, “Alas. I did not get to fulfill my dreams of getting nailed after exams were over, or sneaky sex between classes.”

Minseok laughs at the suddenness of the comment, his cheeks pinking up beautifully, and Baekhyun can’t help but melt, his own smile softening as he watches him relax, finding comfort that he’s sorely missed between the two of them.

“I have cramming dates in cafes, but Jongdae or Sehun are hardly hand holding worthy,” he says, and a pause. “I mean, Hunnie and I do the occasional footsie and we like touching each other’s butts, but. I haven’t really, um, been with anyone. To want to do the other stuff. Or any other stuff.”

Minseok looks surprised, and Baekhyun doesn’t know what to feel about that. 

He tries to prod a little, “What about you? Anyone who’s pestered you while you were taking down all your notes?”

Minseok takes a moment. Then he says, “No one is you, Your Highness.”

It makes him soar and breaks his heart, all at the same time. 

He stands up, gathering their bowls and bringing them over to the sink to wash them. He waves of Minseok’s offer to help, and he does it silently, not knowing anymore how to fill the quiet.

He’s finished much faster than he would have thought, or would have liked, and he has no other choice but to face him again. He wrings his hands together, trying to come up with something to say, and nothing comes to mind.

How can he say anything, really, when Minseok had said what he had just said?

“Your nails, Your Highness,” Minseok ends up being the one to break the pause, and Baekhyun blinks. Then he looks down at his hands, and he makes a face, not even having realized just how long he had let them grow.

“Oh,” he says, “I haven’t really had the time to get them taken care off. All the studying and crying and being stressed over education, you know?”

“Hmm,” he hums, and Baekhyun knows that he’s kind, so kind that he’ll be more than likely to offer to cut his ex’s nails just like he used to, so he gets to it before he can even offer.

“I’ll go have it cut,” he says, shaking his hand off and smiling. “I have this place, they do it really well.”

“I can cut them for you, Your Highness,” Minseok says, as Baekhyun had expected him to, and he’ll always want him near. Time won’t change that, a Master’s and an ongoing PhD isn’t going to change that. But Baekhyun knows if he lets him, he’ll have a harder time letting him go tonight.

“It’s okay, Minseok,” he says. “You’ve already cooked for me. One memory at a time.”

“I really don’t mind, Your Highness,” he says, and Baekhyun is having a harder and harder time to make him turn away. “I may not work for you anymore, but I’ll always want to help you with anything that’s giving you trouble.”

“You’re making this hard for me,” he says, chuckling a little, trying to keep things light. “I’m giving you an out so you don’t have to stay.”

Minseok looks at him quietly. “But I  _ want  _ to stay.”

And Baekhyun stares, surprised and his heart beats too fast in his chest and he fears he’s hoping too much, hearing too much in his voice, and he wants it. Wants everything too much, and he wants him to stay, too. 

He finds the nail cutter Kyungsoo had gifted him as a graduate school  send off hidden somewhere in his toiletries bag, and seats himself in the middle of his bed even though there’s a whole sofa in the other room or the table in the kitchen, but Minseok doesn’t seem to question it too much, looking at him for a moment, then coming to the bed and carefully drifting towards the center, facing Baekhyun.

He holds his hands out, and Baekhyun swallows down his heart, remembering everything, and slides his own into his waiting palms. His hands are just as gentle and tender as he remembers, stroking his skin as he begins to clip his nails, neatly, carefully. 

“Literal years later and you still don’t know how to cut your own nails,” he says, and the tone is fond.

Baekhyun closes his eyes, overwhelmed. “Never seemed like an important skill.”

“Hmm.”

It’s quiet, not uncomfortable. He wriggles his fingers a little out of habit, and Minseok tightens his grip, holding his hands fully, now. Baekhyun blushes for some reason, and looks up to watch Minseok work, and his face is so soft as he moves the nail cutter along and the sound of the clipping is familiar, strange as it is, and reminds him too much of the time they were so happy. 

He missed him. Still misses him now. 

“Did you think, then, when you did this for me the first time, we would be where we are now?” he asks him. 

Minseok lowers his head a little, his gorgeous hair falling to his eyes. “I did not.”

Baekhyun takes a deep breath, “You risked everything, just because I liked you.”

“I risked everything because  _ I  _ liked you too,” he says quietly. “I don’t regret it. It was worth it.”

And the stupid, annoying urge to cry and let himself be overwhelmed with emotion is making his chest hurt and his brain cloudy, so he asks him, maybe a little stupidly, “Did you miss me?”

Minseok looks up, stopping what he’s doing to answer him properly, gaze intense and sincere. “So much. To the point I hurt, and it felt like I couldn’t breathe.”

And isn’t that sensation familiar to Baekhyun. His breath leaves him in a shudder, and Minseok gives him the most tender smile, sad, for what could have been, but. 

He turns back his attention to his nails, and his hair flops down again, and it’s endearing in a way Baekhyun’s never really felt before for Minseok. The whole time he’d known him, his hair was short, almost sharp, and looked beautiful with it. The long curls now are different, but no less beautiful, and he says, “I like your hair this way. I think I’ll like it any way, but you’re so beautiful now.”

He watches his cheeks turn a deep pink, and he doesn’t really think when he reaches out for one of his textbooks with the hand that was already finished, and opens to the marked page, and pulls out the marker. 

A small, coral pink hair clip with a cat puff on the end.

Minseok stares at it, doesn’t move as Baekhyun gathers the front of his hair and clips it to the top of his head, and he’s frozen, just a few fingers away from being finished. 

“You. You still have it,” he says eventually, and Baekhyun pauses at the blankness of his voice. 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t return it earlier,” he says. Minseok doesn’t move still. “I didn’t really know how to contact you, and. I wanted to give it back myself. But it reminded me of you, and I wanted to keep it a little longer because it made me happy.”

“It’s. It’s alright,” he says, voice almost inaudible and trembling, making Baekhyun look at him, concerned, but he doesn’t look up, goes back to clipping the last few nails, and then he’s done. 

He doesn’t move, still looking at where his hands are holding Baekhyun’s, and Baekhyun is afraid he’s done something wrong, along the way. 

“Minseok?”

A pause. Minseok looks up, before looking back down and gathering the trimmings, throwing them away into the bin near the bed, and he comes back just to resume his position, still and silent and Baekhyun doesn’t know what to do but wait. 

It takes several moments, before Minseok is looking up, his eyes shining, and Baekhyun really does think he’s done something wrong and is about to apologize, but Minseok is cupping his face in his hands, touch so gentle, and is asking him, “Is this alright?”

Baekhyun is shocked, then so happy, quick to say, “Yes.  _ Yes.” _

So Minseok kisses him, pulls his face in closer to press his lips to his and it’s like coming home, familiar and perfect and Baekhyun immediately melts into him. He tastes of everything he’s missed, everything he wants back in his life.

He might be getting ahead of himself, getting too excited when he shifts and climbs on to his lap, but with the way Minseok licks into his mouth, moves his hands to hold his waist, then slipping under his shirt and grazing his skin lightly with his fingertips, and Baekhyun trembles, getting closer, wanting and needing him to hold him closer, the surge of the wait and the time they’ve spent apart and all the unsaid and pure affection that had never diminished, just waiting.

He sighs, so overwhelmed and tucking his face into his neck and Minseok trails his lips along the length of the side of his neck, to his nape, his shoulder, and he feels the same. It feels the same but more.

He reaches down to take the hem of Minseok’s shirt, balling the fabric up in his hands and murmuring quietly against his lips, “Minnie. Minnie, Minnie, please.”

Minseok kisses him, licks across his lips, and Baekhyun removes his shirt, and his chest is pounding and heavy with how much he’s missed him. He gets his hands everywhere, feeling him, touching him, over muscle and soft skin and he’s gotten bigger since the last time, his arms and shoulders feeling just that much larger under his fingers, and Minseok bites his bottom lip, slowly sucking it into his mouth, and the air gets more heated, very slow, then almost immediately. 

Minseok removes his shirt, and his hands are a little cold on Baekhyun’s torso but his lips are hot and Baekhyun arches into him anyway, lets him trace his fingers along the lines of his stomach, where muscle is defined and where it’s not, and it’s soft and hot and Baekhyun wants a lot more. 

He’s guided to rest on his his back, and Minseok settles on top of him and kisses him deeper, rolls body down and grinding them together, and Baekhyun moans into his mouth, reaching up and pulling the clip off his head and tossing it gently to the side to run his fingers through his curls, a little dry but it doesn’t matter, because he’s kissed more and more and when he pulls, Minseok groans into his mouth. Their pace is gorgeous, tender and warm, but he wants hotter, wants the touch to burn a little and he doesn’t know if he’ll get more than has now. He wants the most he can get out of it. 

He reaches down and unbuttons Minseok’s pants quickly, making his intent to hasten their pace known, and Minseok follows beautifully, helping him along and taking everything off in one go, and Baekhyun kisses him, reaching back and holding his ass, squeezing, Minseok groaning into his mouth and grinding down harder, and Baekhyun stiffens in his pants even more.

Minseok makes quick work of his pants as Baekhyun makes quick work of his cock, stroking him and getting him hard, and it’s so hot between them, hotter when Minseok gets him naked quickly and then there’s nothing between them. It’s been too long, and Minseok’s skin, his everything feels too good on top of him, and the pleasure’s already pooling,making him gasp out with every roll and grind and touch and kiss.

“You’re a dream,” Minseok says, and Baekhyun blushes from everything, wanting a lot more.

“Please,” he says, pleads, guiding Minseok’s hand to his cock, aching and needing attention, Minseok acquiescing quickly enough and he’s so generous with his touch, wrapping his fingers around his length and pulling him off, and Baekhyun is shaking. “Stuff is,  _ ahh,  _ in the drawer, right side. Please, Minnie-”

Minseok kisses him, calming him, and reaching over to get what they need, and when he comes back to him, he’s smiling, almost a smirk, and as he lubes up his fingers, he tells him quietly, “At least I’m here to help fulfill one of your dreams.”

Baekhyun blinks, and when the first finger circles his rim, he moans. “Oh,  _ oh,  _ uh. What, what are you talking about?”

Minseok smiles, kissing him, twisting and pushing his finger into his hole, and answers as Baekhyun groans into his mouth. “Post-exam sex.”

And oh, that’s right. Baekhyun can’t help but smile, laugh a little happily, because it’s with him, what more, but then Minseok is pushing in two fingers, faster and a bit harder, his mouth drops into a long moan, loud enough that Minseok kisses the corner of his mouth, encouraging him.

It’s three fingers soon, Minseok’s hand a blur and it’s the pace Baekhyun is craving for, and he clutches on to his arms, spreading his legs and panting as his hole is stretched and opened, and his dick spurts at the tip, and he’s ready, needing more.

“Minseok,” he breathes, grinding back against the fingers fucking into him, his short nails biting into Minseok’s skin, “Oh, in me, need you in me-”

“Yes,  _ yes,”  _ he says, rolling down a condom and slicking himself up, and Baekhyun watches, wanting and mouth watering for it as his hand, barely a blur, moves on his cock, hard and he’s ready, waited so long, to have it inside him again, pounding into him.

At the first push, the head pushing in and stretching him, and moans, moans until he bottoms out, and Minseok doesn’t wait to give him the pace he wants, hard and fast and punching the air out of his lungs. He fucks him, fucks hard and his balls slap against his ass and Baekhyun loves it immediately, loves being pounded into his bed and pushed up his mattress as he’s fucked, Minseok’s hand on the headboard stopping them from crashing into the headboard from the force of his thrusts, loves it all. Loves him, still, maybe even more.

“Oh,  _ fuck,”  _ he pants, parting his legs further and reveling in the feeling of being split open by his perfect man and his perfect cock, “you,  _ fuck fuck fuck,  _ you still. Oh,  _ oh,  _ you still got it.”

“Only ever for you,” Minseok says, words sweet and his eyes expressing it, but his hips decidedly rougher, pushing hard and ramming into him. 

Baekhyun loves laying there, moaning as he  _ takes it,  _ letting himself be fucked so thoroughly, but he also wants more. He maneuvers them so he’s on top, struggling to keep his cock inside him as he rolls them over but he succeeds, and he grins triumphantly, rolling his hips on his dick and MInseok tries to roll his eyes, but the bitten back moan is making Baekhyun feel particularly smug.

He settles on top of him, getting himself comfortable and sits on his dick, squeezing a little and they both moan, relishing in the feeling of being connected so intimately, and he rests his hands on Minseok’s stomach, hard under his touch, and he rolls his hips, circles and figure eights that make him feel full, his cock filling him up so well, making him feel so good.

He throws his head back, eyes closed as he moans as he fucks himself on Minseok’s dick, his own cock hard and spilling at the tip, and Minseok’s hands grip his hips, helping him along, and it’s all perfect, the pressure pushing into his hole and opening him up perfect, the noises of their bodies meeting and those that come out of their mouths perfect.

He starts bouncing on Minseok’s cock, fucking himself harder, and he moans even louder as Minseok thrusts up, and they meet as he comes down, their skin slapping together. He’s overwhelmed immediately, and Minseok keeps hammering up into his ass, almost relentlessly and certainly perfectly, and his body falls forward, struggling to keep his body up over his.

Minseok understands, guiding him to lay on top of him, their bodies overheated and Baekhyun hides his face in his neck as Minseok wraps his arms around his torso, and uses his strength to bring Baekhyun down on to his cock, spearing him open this way, and he’s sure he’s drooling into Minseok’s skin, but he’s so overwhelmed he can’t care. 

“Baekhyun,” Minseok moans his name, the first time in so long, and it makes him clench his ass around him even tighter, making them both moan as the next thrust is tight, delicious. “You’re,  _ oh, fuck.  _ You’re perfect.”

“I’m gonna come,” he whimpers, whines, and Minseok groans, and he’s sitting up, bringing Baekhyun up with him, arms tight around him as he guides Baekhyun on to his cock, over and over, pace never slowing but his kisses, his mouth all over his face feeling sweet, warm, and Baekhyun is overwhelmed on all fronts. 

He would fly off his arms had Minseok not been holding him as tightly as he has been, his body almost limp and feeling everything too much. He’s pounded on his cock, fucked until it becomes too much, coupled with the way his cock is trapped between their bellies, rubbing against them and it’s enough.

He comes, moaning Minseok’s name and clutching on to his shoulders as he spills between them, dirties up their skin and squeezing around Minseok, making him grunt.

“Come on, come on, come on,” he urges him, whining, clenching again, and Minseok kisses him, fucking his tongue into his mouth and fucking his cock into his ass, harder, faster, and then he’s shaking when he suddenly comes, shouting beautifully as he fills up the condom, fills Baekhyun up, wringing it out inside him.

“Fuck.  _ fuck,”  _ Baekhyun is trembling, spent and sensitive, and Minseok kisses him gently, letting him sink into him. “Fuck, were you this good, then?”

“I’ve been holding out since we last saw each other,” Minseok admits, and Baekhyun is like putty in his hands. They kiss, and Minseok settles them on their sides, pulling out with a wince. He cleans them up as Baekhyun lays back lazily, trailing his fingers up and down his arm, feeling soft and content.

“Are you alright?” Minseok asks him, and he hums, curling into his warmth. “Not too much?”

“It was everything,” Baekhyun says, smiling. A pause, comfortable, but a little heavy, and he tastes it in the air. How the night is coming to an end and they’ll have to deal with this, soon. What this all means, what will happen between the two of them, what’s changed, what’s stayed the same.

He makes himself bring it up. “We did that.”

Minseok goes very quiet. “We did.”

“We have to talk about it.”

“We should.”

Baekhyun looks at him, “Then why do I feel like you don’t want to?”

“I know we need to,” he says, “It’s just. I don’t know what we’ll say. I don’t know what will come out of my mouth, if I’ll be able to stop it.”

“Then you don’t,” he says. His heart hurts a little, and he understands, because it’s been so long. Everything is a little uncertain. “We need to be honest, if we’re going to move forward. If we’re going to make this work, this time.”

Minseok looks at him, waiting. Thinking. “Why didn’t we work, last time?”

Baekhyun looks back, knowing he needs to be honest. “Because. We weren’t ready. You didn’t let me have you. And, what’s more. You didn’t let yourself have me.”

Minseok goes very quiet. Silent, and he looks at him, doesn’t move his gaze away, Baekhyun doesn’t break it either, watches as his eyes shine with the promise of tears, it’s painful to see, painful that he had made it like that, somehow, even if all he did was be truthful, because. He has promised, too, that he wouldn’t hurt him, would protect him as much as he could. But this was the truth of it, because as much as they had lied, they had kept the truth from others, as much as they weren’t prepared for the consequences, Minseok thought that protecting him by leaving was the best option.

In many ways, it was. But, for his question, it is the answer. 

It’s many moments before he speaks again. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Baekhyun says, mostly because he doesn’t know what else to say. Doesn’t know what he  _ can  _ say. 

Minseok goes quiet again for a long time, and Baekhyun waits. He’s not exactly surprised, but it still disappoints him, somewhat, when Minseok says, “I have work in the morning.”

“Right,” Baekhyun says, and it’s late, he knows, and classes for the undergraduate classes are still ongoing, and logically, he knows, he should let Minseok go so he doesn’t have to miss his classes. He doesn’t like it, though.

He watches as Minseok sets himself on the edge of the bed, back to him as he dresses himself up slowly, silently, and Baekhyun doesn’t quite know what to do.

Minseok stands when he’s fully dressed, and Baekhyun sighs, because this isn’t how he wants things to go. This shouldn’t be how it is. 

“I’ll,” he tries, then he stops, thinking of what to say. “I hope I didn’t ruin your evening.”

“You didn’t,” Baekhyun says, meaning it. He wishes it were another way, but there is nothing about this night he feels he will regret. “I’m happy. Really. I hope you are, too.”

Minseok looks at him, his eyes still shining. “I hope to see you soon.”

“Me too,” he says, though he knows it will take time, for them to figure this out. He’s ready to talk, but it’s evident Minseok isn’t, and he doesn’t want to push. “Bye.”

Minseok’s face pinches a little, like a last resort to not cry, and he comes forward, kissing his forehead lightly, then he leaves the room quietly. 

Baekhyun listens as the door to his apartment opens, then is closed, and he sinks back into his bed, chest heavy, mind full.

It had been a perfect few hours. His heart was warm and happy and it felt like they were getting somewhere. He does his utmost to be content, to think of how this was something in the right direction, that while it may not be where he wants to be, but it’s certainly  _ something,  _ something beautiful and something full of promise, and it won’t be long until they find themselves where they need to be.

He tries. He tries very hard.

But. It’s not enough.

He’s had enough of waiting, enough of being patient.

He breathes, breathes hard, and he throws the sheets back and stands, looking for his clothes, putting on his underwear and getting his legs through his pants, going as fast as he can, needing to catch up to him, but he’s barely getting the button done when his door is being opened, and Minseok is back in front of him, not having bothered to take off his shoes at the door, but Baekhyun doesn’t care, not when his face is streaked with tears and there is want and sadness lining his face.

He’s lost for words for several moments. Then, he asks, because he doesn’t know what else to say, “Did you forget something?”

“Yes,” he says, and he’s crying even more, but he doesn’t make a sound. “I know I have made you sad. I know I’ve hurt you, and I know that I told you that I did all that to protect you. But I was not prepared for how much it would devastate me, to not be near you, to give you so many reasons to cry.”

He breathes, shuddering, and Baekhyun stays quiet, watching him, his own eyes stinging, his chest tight.

“I know that I’m not very expressive,” he says, wiping at his face and trying to hold himself together, “I know that I may not have told you how much you meant to me, how much the nights we spent together meant to me and how they were the best part of my days. How much joy I felt when I saw you happy, over the simplest things I did for you, and how I would do everything again, just to have met you.”

Baekhyun can’t speak. And, it’s not like he didn’t know these things. He would see it in the way that Minseok would look at him, in his smile, in the way he held him. He knew, but it still feels different, so stinging but wonderful, to hear the words. 

“You. You are the best thing that could have ever happened to me,” he says, tears running down his face, soft little gasps escaping his mouth as he tried to calm his heart. “It was hard, but it was so wonderful. I was so happy, and then I wasn’t, because I left. You are  _ everything  _ to me.”

Baekhyun stares at him, trying to keep himself together. “Then why did you leave? Why do you keep leaving me?”

“I didn’t want you to see me like this,” he says, trying to control the tremor in his voice. 

“Like what?”

Minseok lets out a shuddering breath, a sob. “You don’t know how hard it is, for me to do this. I promised your parents, I promised myself that I would protect you. I needed to do what’s good for you.”

“So walking away from me is good for me?” he says, his anger slipping, bit by bit, the bite in his voice making Minseok wince. “Really? Do I mean that little to you?”

He never would have thought, in his life, that he would be experiencing a scene like this. Dramatic, full of emotion, to the point of being overwrought. But here he is, angry and in love and hurt.

“I thought I was looking out for you, and I thought it would be the best thing to do, because you were going to get hurt by people who you didn’t know,” he says, and he cries and cries. “But. I’m the one who ended up hurting you. I ended up hurting you and I broke myself while doing it. And I have never made as big a mistake. Because all I wanted to do was protect you and help give you the best life I could, because I have never loved anything, anyone, the way I have loved you. All this time. I love you.”

Baekhyun’s chest aches with how much his heart is pounding, how much everything hurts, how the words make him soar but pull him back down. He’s overwhelmed.

“Then why do you keep leaving me?” he asks, and his voice breaks, and he fails to keep the tears at bay, feeling the wetness run down his cheeks. “I just want you here, but here you are, doing this to me again. You keep breaking my heart, hurting me like this. Hurting yourself.”

“I’m sorry,” he says, and he’s ignoring his tears, coming forward to wipe at Baekhyun’s. His hands are cold, but he latches on to them, trying to keep him here. “I’m sorry. I keep hurting you.”

“Just stay,” he asks, “Just. Please. I love you.”

“Baekhyun,” he watches the way his face softens with his words.

“Please, don’t do this to us,” he says. “To me. Please try. We’d be so happy even if it was hard, but we can work through it.”

He takes the deepest breath, and holds on to Minseok’s wrists, anchoring him here. “I’ve waited so long. You’ve given up so much. Please choose me. Please stay, please try. Let yourself have this.”

Minseok breathes out a long breath. “I want to stay.”

It’s a hope that he holds on to. “Then do it.”

And when Minseok pulls him in, embracing him, hands pressing on the bare skin of his back, he breathes, relief and happiness and pure joy running through his veins. 

“Okay, Baekhyun,” he says, voice tender as his hands, “I’ll stay. I’ll stay for you. I’ll try.”

Baekhyun lets out the longest breath, and it feels like. He can breathe, fully, easily again. He tucks himself into his body, holding him tight, clinging and touching as much of him as he could, keeping him here. 

Minseok holds him in turn, lips on his shoulder, his neck, on the soft lobe of his ear, his hands gliding down his back, his hips, and he’s here. He’s staying. 

He sniffs, wiping his face and his snot on Minseok’s sweater, muttering, “Love declarations are supposed to be happy, and you’re just making me cry.”

“I’m sorry,” he says, kissing his cheek. “I’ll make up for every tear you’ve spilled because of me. I’ll work hard.”

He breathes, breathes him in, loves him deeply.

Minseok kisses him, lips salty with his tears, the touch soft, sweet, and Baekhyun waits for him to say it. 

He doesn’t fail him. “I love you.”

And it’s very much worth the wait. 

He beams, snot hanging from his nose and his face wet, but Minseok is in similar conditions and he doesn’t care. “I have full permission now to call you a gross pet name.”

He rolls his eyes at him. He grins in turn, and his heart settle comfortably in his chest, finally calm, finally sated. 

.

He’s never in the university at this time, all of his classes always being after the afternoon, and it’s too early for anyone to be awake, but Minseok’s only free time today was after his morning class. Baekhyun doesn’t know how Minseok does it, because he can’t be anything short of a saint, for having the patience and energy to deal with college kids at seven in the morning. 

He catches him just as the last students files out, their eyes dead to the world and pretentious tumblers of coffee in their hands, and he bounces in, Minseok shutting down his laptop, and when he looks up and sees him, he smiles warmly, no trace of exhaustion on his face.

It’s been a few weeks, and it’s been slow, but happy. One thing at a time, and Baekhyun is calmed. Maybe it also has something to do with not having to bother with studying anymore, but when Minseok kisses his cheek in greeting, pointedly ignoring the way Baekhyun calls him,  _ “Sweetie,”  _ then he knows who to credit for the spring in his step.

“Late breakfast?” Baekhyun suggests, and he makes a face. “Wait, it’s not even nine yet, most people aren’t awake anyway. It’s just  _ breakfast.” _

“Hmm,” Minseok huns as he considers the offer, linking their hands together and shouldering his bag as they exit the room. “Professor Kwon mentioned a really good noodle place near the school, just opened.”

“Oh, yum,” he says, “let’s do that.”

“Okay,” he smiles, and Baekhyun is tempted greatly to kiss him. But, food first. “You ready for graduation? Got your suit ready?”

“Oh. Right,” he says, remembering, and Minseok gives him a look. “Okay, to be fair,  _ you _ have been taking up my time and it kind of. Slipped my mind?”

“Hmm. Did you send the invite to Her Royal Highness?” Baekhyun blinks. “Hmm,  _ hmm.  _ That’s why I sent it for you.”

“Oh, shit, thank you Minnie,” he says, and he really would be fucked, had he told his parents only now that his graduation was in a few days. “I’ll pay for breakfast.”

“You always pay.”

“Well let me pay again!” he says, swinging their hands together. “You’ve been working very hard. I want to take care of you.”

“Oh, that reminds me, I need to stop by the department to drop off my research,” he says, pouting a little. He’s adorable. “Wait for me?”

“Uh huh, I’ll terrorize Kyuhyun at the front desk, he owes me some money,” he grins, and Minseok snorts, but they part at the lobby of the building, and Baekhyun watches him enter and he can’t help but just smile after him. 

He makes to turn, intent on getting his money from the department’s general secretary, but he freezes after only a moment, and can’t believe who he’s seeing. “Chanyeol?”

The giraffe turns around, and he’s grinning wide, bounding towards him and attacking him with a hug, and it’s rather dangerous. It’s been several months since they last saw each other, and the new hair makes his ears look even bigger, but Baekhyun says nothing. 

“Baek!” he beams, and Baekhyun is still thoroughly confused, even more confused when he sees Kyungsoo and Junmyeon and Donghae by the entrance with some of the Royal bodyguards, not quite entering, but clearly visible. 

“What, what are you doing here, Yeol?” he asks, still dumbfounded, really confused, and Chanyeol bounces a little. 

“Oh, it’s not just me,” he says brightly, “Your parents are here too-”

“What?” he says, blinking rapidly and heart racing in his chest a little.

It’s not like he was going to hide this from his parents, this time. He really, truly,  _ honestly, genuinely,  _ was going to tell them, as soon as he could. But, he and Minseok were so  _ new,  _ barely a few weeks together and it’s familiar but still so different from the last time, and he’d wanted to find their footing, get to know each other a little more before he would tell them. 

He’s kind of panicked, and Chanyeol notices, because he says, “Weren’t you the one who invited them here?”

“What?” he says, dazed.

“They told me to come with them because they were coming here to visit,” he says, visibly confused.

They don’t have much time to think about it, because his mother and father are coming through the doors, flanked by the staff and their security, and Baekhyun is a little shellshocked, not prepared in any way to see them today.

“Mom, dad,” he says, squeaks really, when they smile at him, coming forward to hug him. “I, um. Hello.”

“Good morning to you too, darling,” she says, fluffing his hair, and he blinks. 

“What are you doing here?” he asks them. They’re not the ones to answer.

“I invited them.”

Baekhyun turns, and Minseok is there, smiling quietly, his stance a little nervous, but otherwise, he comes forward decisively. Holds his hand and Baekhyun’s eyes widen, looking to his parents, but they don’t look surprised. His mother’s expression is even. Warm.

“Huh?” Baekhyun and Chanyeol say, and Minseok hides his grin poorly, 

“Your Highness. Your Highness,” Minseok greets both of his parents with a formal bow, and they nod in return. “It’s been a very long time.”

“It has been,” his father says, and he looks to his mother. 

“You have been well?” she asks, and Minseok smiles kindly.

“Yes, Your Highness,” he says, and Baekhyun watches everything, on the edge and kind of terrified and really, really confused. “Thank you, for recommending me for the doctorate. That was too much of you to do.”

“It was  _ the least  _ I could do,” she says, and Baekhyun’s mouth drops, because  _ shit that’s a thing that happened and had no idea about.  _ “You deserved it.”

“Thank you, in any case,” he bows again, and Baekhyun wants answers. “You may be wondering why I invited you today.”

“It has crossed our minds.”

He straightens up a little, and his grip around Baekhyun’s hand gets just a bit tighter. “May I ask for a moment of your time privately?”

Baekhyun stares at him. Everyone stares at him. And everyone else in the lobby stares at their peculiar party. 

“Would I be correct in thinking this has something do with Baekhyun?” she asks. Minseok smiles gently.

“You would be correct,” he says. “Seeing as, before you are my Crown Princess and Crown Prince, you are the parents of the man I love.”

Baekhyun almost cries. Almost, out of surprise and happiness and apprehension. He doesn’t, because Chanyeol gasps and sobs and almost ruins the moment for him. He’ll be sure to block his stupid face when he thinks back to this moment.

“Ah, I’ve been waiting for this conversation,” she says, rubbing her hands together, smiling. Baekhyun blinks rapidly, scared. “Is there somewhere we could walk at leisure?”

“The lagoon near the gymnasium is particularly beautiful at this time of year,” Minseok answers. “I will show you around.”

“Perfect,” she says, still smiling, and she links her hands with her husband’s, and follows Minseok out the door, only their security following behind. 

Baekhyun tries to follow, but is stopped by Kyungsoo, who gives him a look, hypnotic and intimidating.

“Let it alone, Your Highness.”

“She’s going to eat him  _ alive.” _

Junmyeon snorts, and Kyungsoo rolls his eyes.

“She’ll eat  _ you  _ alive if she hears you say that,” Chanyeol says, and Baekhyun ignores him.

He manages to convince Kyungsoo and Junmyeon to let them sit out by the fields, wherein the view of Minseok touring his parents around as they converse is just visible, a trail of security following them and drawing looks from students and other faculty roaming around. Minseok doesn’t seem to be too flustered, and his parents don’t seem to be too terrorizing, and everyone is smiling, sometimes laughing. 

“You literally look like you’re about to shit yourself,” Jongdae tells him, a little bored as he sits back and stares at Junmyeon, who looks at him curiously in turn. Kyungsoo, in turn, glares at Sehun while he flutters his eyelashes at Chanyeol. Baekhyun ignores them all.

“Why are we even here?” Sehun asks, not sparing him a look, “you have your hot cousin here already for support.”

“Strength in numbers,” Baekhyun says in reply, and Jongdae and Junmyeon give twin snorts. “I’m paying for your breakfast, chill.”

“I’m not even usually  _ awake _ at this hour,” Sehun says, but when Chanyeol gives him a strained smile, he adds, “I don’t really mind right now, though.”

Baekhyun turns just in time to see Kyungsoo roll his eyes hard.

It’s not much later when Minseok and his parents are coming back, walking towards them leisurely, smiling and their words soft between them, and Baekhyun watches, on his feet and trying not to look too nervous. 

“Are you okay?” is the first thing he asks Minseok when he comes up to him.

He smiles, “Yes, I’m fine.”

“What did you talk about?” he asks, glancing at his parents, who are nodding in turn to Jongdae and Sehun, who are both in deep bows.

“Nothing for you to worry yourself over,” he answers, his smile turning softer, and he kisses the corner of Baekhyun’s mouth very gently, his hand stroking his cheek.

“So it’s something to worry about?” he blinks, and Minseok just chuckles lightly.

“So Professor Kim was just saying something about noodles for breakfast?” his father says, and it takes several moments before Baekhyun realizes he’s pertaining to Minseok. His mind reels, happy but weird and it’s really strange, this morning is strange.

“Yes, it was recommended to me by a colleague,” he says, taking Baekhyun’s hand in his and linking their fingers together, and Baekhyun is blushing for some reason, but liking everything. 

“Sounds lovely,” his mother says, smiling, and she continues to speak to Minseok as she walks with his father, Minseok and Baekhyun walking next to them with their hands held together and enjoying the still rather soft light of the morning.

It’s a strange morning. It might be one of the best Baekhyun’s had in a long time.

.

Graduation is unnecessarily long, and Baekhyun keeps squirming in his seat, suit feeling hot under his toga and all the sashes over it for the graduate students. It doesn’t help much that they’re the last to get their awards and diplomas, but it’s alright, really very good, because when he gets up on the stage and receives his recognition, Minseok is smiling softly, proudly from his seat with the faculty. It gets even better when the whole thing is over, and while all the students are cheering, Minseok is coming down the stage and he meets him halfway up the stairs and kisses him, smiling against his lips and everything else is just background noise.

.

The permanency of everything, the fact that Minseok isn’t going to leave, that he’s really here, having this with him, making each other so happy, really sinks in, settles into his skin and bones that night, after his celebration dinner and a perfect, quiet moment where Minseok had filled him up with his cock and praised him endlessly, until his skin was peppered with it generously.

It’s been a few hours since then, the hour late, really very early morning, and Baekhyun is still awake, warm and Minseok’s chest sturdy and comforting under his cheek, listening and watching as Minseok sleeps next to him. He didn’t think that he could have it like this, before. Sure, calm, comfortable and open and honest and nothing hidden. 

He doesn’t think he’d ever had something like this. It’s beautiful and theirs, and it fills him up, a warmth and calmness that makes him so quietly happy, feeling so loved and it feels like he has everything, like he has the world and he wants to take care of it. Wants to be taken care of by it. 

“Hmm,” Minseok mumbles a little, stirring in his sleep, and opens his eyes slowly, tiredly. He looks at Baekhyun, pulls him closer with his sleepy limbs, until their skin is completely flush and his still sex warm body is right against his own. Intimate and tender and bare. “What’s wrong?”

Baekhyun shakes his head, because no, there’s nothing wrong. Really very much he opposite, he thinks. 

Minseok blinks slowly, lookin at him. “Something on your mind?”

And, yes. There are many things.

He wants to say something about how happy he is. About how good everything feels. How he feels like he can breathe and how he feels like this is what the rest of his life is going to look like and he wants it, so much. How Minseok makes him happy and he hopes he makes Minseok happy too, how much he loves him. How much he wants everything with him. 

He finds that he doesn’t have the words, to say anything adequately. He leans forward silently, pressing his lips to his chest, over his heart. Kissing and leaving his mark, and he snuggles up to him, burrowing himself into every crevice of his body, into his heart, and Minseok lets him, embracing him. 

He feels his lips press onto his hair, then move down to his mouth, sweet and soft and it’s with this, he knows Minseok understands. 

.

.

.

“Minnie.”

“Hmm.”

“I have a favor to ask.”

“If it’s your nails again, Baekhyun.”

“Well, you see-“

“I have reports to finish reading through,” he says, looking up at him from where he’s perched on his desk, glasses on and making him look hot as hell, even when he’s obviously tired and judging by the mountain of papers still in front of him, he’s only about to get even more tired. 

“Fuck the reports,” he says. He pauses, and he grins, “fuck me instead.”

“You know I would prefer that,” he says, sighing, “but I need to finish this.”

Baekhyun frowns, taking a perch on the edge of his desk, purposely covering some of the other documents. “The other advisors giving you a hard time?”

“Kibum is being  _ particularly  _ difficult,” he admits, frowning. “We can’t get a unanimous vote because of him.”

“Well, you’re not going to magically come up with way to convince him if you exhaust yourself with work,” he says, forgoing the table and sitting straight on his lap. Minseok sighs, but pats his butt lightly. “Take a break.”

“A break in which I’m cutting your nails?” 

Baekhyun beams, and Minseok gives him a look.

“You know you love doing it,” he says, “any excuse to hold my hands.”

“I’m your boyfriend, Baekhyun, not your nail technician,” he says, and Baekhyun kisses him, letting his lips linger a little longer on purpose. He’d just had the  _ best  _ red bean ice cream courtesy of Jungsoo and he intends to tempt him a little.

“Please? My itty, bitty, lovely Minnie?” he says, and Minseok glares at him. He hates the pet name, and Baekhyun uses every opportunity to use it. 

Minseok glares and glares for several minutes, and Baekhyun’s beam just gets wider with each second, not backing down. Eventually, still frowning, he says, “You really should learn to cut your nails.”

“Ah, but why would I deprive you of the opportunity to do it?” he says, cupping his face and kissing him sweetly in thanks.

“Brat.”

He settles on their bed first, sitting cross-legged in the center and waving a new gold, engraved nail cutter. “Chanyeol sent us this from the States. I think he and Kyungsoo are having fun.”

Minseok stares at it as he gets in position in front of him, reading the engraving.  _ “‘Cut your own nails, Baekhyun.’  _ Hmm, so Kyungsoo must have chosen this.”

“He’ll get better taste, soon,” Baekhyun says, and he reaches into their side drawer and pulls out the cat hair pin, and pins Minseok’s hair back so it won’t fall into his eyes too much.

“Do you miss him? Working for you?” Minseok asks him, waiting for Baekhyun to slide his hands into his palms, and when he does, Minseok starts cutting, neatly, carefully, as he always does. 

Baekhyun hums, “Do I miss him, ordering me around and sneaking up on me and knowing everywhere I go and where we fool around and telling me off for defiling various rooms of the Palace?” he snorts, then pouts. “Yes.”

Minseok hums, snipping away. “I’ll be sure to tell him that.”

“Not that I don’t like Taemin,” he says hurriedly, “He’s cool and lets me get away with more shit but he kicks my ass too which is. Kind of what I need, sometimes.”

“Hmm, and we know how much you like that,” Minseok says, and Baekhyun frowns, but he’s not completely wrong.

Baekhyun starts talking about his niece and his new corgi and the adventures they get into, and how his brother is undergoing ‘king lessons’ and how happy he is he doesn’t have to go through that himself, and then he notices that Minseok seems quite out of it. Minseok cuts his nails quietly, trimming them well, and he usually does just listen to Baekhyun yap on about whatever, but tonight, he’s unusually very silent, very concentrated on trimming his nails, hands exceptionally tender as they hold his fingers.

“Minnie?”

It takes a few seconds before he looks up, contemplative look on his face. “Yes?”

“Is something bothering you?” he asks, “Is it work? Are you stressed out, or-”

“Oh, oh no, it’s nothing,” he says, smiling gently. “I just. I like looking at your hands. Holding them.”

Baekhyun’s beam comes to him slowly, wide on his face, and he wriggles his fingers, then holds out his hands, long slender fingers and soft skin, “They’re pretty, right?”

“They are particularly lovely,” Minseok says, giving in, smiling. “They are very wonderful to hold.”

“Makes you want to hold them forever, hmm?” he grins, and he watches the fondness soften Minseok’s expression.

“Yes. It does,” he says, and he always does this, says things so honest and earnest like this that Baekhyun is caught off guard, and he blushes, cheeks pinking, stupidly in love. 

Minseok smiles at him, holding out his palm, “I’m not quite done.”

“Right,” Baekhyun says, feels like his cheeks may be glowing, and he gives him back his hands to get the last few fingers done.

It’s not lost on Baekhyun that Minseok’s pace seems to slow as he finishes up. He usually makes quick work of cutting his nails, but Baekhyun watches, waits as he seems to linger as he cuts the last nails on his left hand, his hands tender and skimming over his knuckles. 

He blinks, and Minseok is reaching into his pocket, then. Still holding his hands, there is a beautiful, gleaming band of white gold between his fingers, and he ponders over it, while Baekhyun is stunned, speechless and overwhelmed and there are tears streaming down his face before he really realizes he’d even felt the need to cry, and it’s like there’s a balloon of pure joy in his chest, making it tight, making it feel full.

“I was waiting for the perfect moment,” he says quietly, his own voice sounding full of emotion, but more controlled, just held on together. “I  _ can’t  _ believe that the perfect moment is while I’m cutting your nails-”

Baekhyun gets up on his knees and climbs on to his lap, ignoring the trimmings between them, snot dripping down his nose and his eyes welled up and pouring, cups his face in his hands, “Minnie,  _ Minnie,  _ ask me. Ask me.”

Minseok’s eyes are shining, wet with tears, and he holds him with one hand on his bum, the other with the ring between them, and Baekhyun is so stupidly filled with love. “Your Highness-”

He shakes his head in his hands,  _ “Properly.” _

Minseok’s lips tremble a little as he smiles, overwhelmed as he tries to hold his tears, and his entire face is glowing, radiating with love and joy. “Marry me, my love.”

Baekhyun’s heart soars, and he feels so light, so happy and  _ my love.  _ After all the many years Minseok had refused to give into pet names. It’s wonderful, it’s perfect, it’s everything.

“Much better,” he says, crying and grinning, leaning down to kiss him, his  _ yes  _ murmured against lips and just theirs to share.

**Author's Note:**

> title from the English translated lyrics of super junior's "the lucky ones," which inspired much of the emotion in this.
> 
> [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/markxiuyeols)
> 
> [tumblr](http://www.castlenarry.tumblr.com)


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